Famous for Being Famous
by cimple
Summary: Celebrities, high paid show ponies without souls trotting about like they're the gods's gift to mankind. Raven can't stand them on television, so what's she to do when she's forced to live with one? rating to be safe.
1. James Jax

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Teen Titans, you people already know that.**

**A/N: DUUDEE!! It's been AGES since I've been on ... damn ... Ah … yes, I'm back gang!! I bet you all thought I was dead didn't cha, HAH! You thought wrong! It's gonna take more than that fact that I am now a senior to stop me from writing about my all time favorite couple. Just remember to review, and give me some good feedback, and I'll keep updating, luc'yaz!!**

**Summary: **_All the guys want to be him, all the girls want to be with him, well known, and well envied, and well admired, James Jax is the newest, hottest name in Hollywood. He's also got the biggest of secrets that could turn the world on its head if it's ever discovered, and Raven, has discovered it. Already harboring a deep loathing dislike of the high-paid show ponies without souls trotting about like they were God's gift to mankind; she couldn't stand them on television. So what is she to do when she's forced to live with the soulless James Jax who's actually on the Teen Titans most-wanted list? Easy, play him for all he's worth._

**Famous for Being Famous**

**James Jax**

"_The bling, the fashion, the stars! That's right ladies and gentlemen, The Charity Ball is on and being held right here in Jump City, everyone from Jacob Donny, to Elizabeth Locks will be here, I'm your host Helga Welch here to bring the Ball right into your living room!"_

Starfire sat at the edge of her seat, taking on her latest obsession … the glamorous life of Celebrities. Her big green eyes glued to the large screen TV while a bowl of popcorn sat on her lap, she squealed every time Helga in her glittering gown spoke to a new celebrity and the gossip column. Raven, being the meditative girl she is, was going crazy just listening to the crap. She squint her eyes shut and chanted a bit louder to drown out the loud noise of chatty paparazzi trying to get the latest scoop on some actress's love life.

"Azarath … Metrion … Zinthous … Azarath … Metrion … Zinthous …" it wasn't working, she was loosing her self-center, and she was loosing her patience, so she cracked open one eye to glare warningly at Starfire, "Star … do you mind lowering that thing down … I'm trying to meditate."

Starfire blinked and looked off the screen to glance at Raven, "Did you say something friend Raven?"

She was brainwashed.

Raven took a deep breath, "Could you –"

"_Oh my goodness! Look who has just arrived! James Jax! James! James! Can we have a word!"_

Starfire screamed, "It's the James Jax! Friend Raven! Come see the James Jax is actually here in Jump City! Come! Come! You must watch with me."

Raven had no choice, Starfire flew up, grabbed her wrist and yanked her to the couch, Raven huffed when her hair blew into her face and her cape was all skewed. Sitting up, she fixed herself and glared at the TV to see a rather handsome, if not typically young celebrity standing next to who Raven assumed was the reporter considering she was holding the mike. Obviously star-struck to be standing in the presences of a man that looked no older than Robin or Cyborg, but dressed like he owned the world. A black suite with cinnamon red pin stripe and a matching silk cinnamon red inside button up with two on the top undone.

Hands in his pocket, two silver earrings on his right ear, messy spiked hair, naturally island skin tanned complexion, and the look in his glittering autumn brown eyes told Raven he was just another Son of Hollywood. One whom Starfire was obviously fascinated by, Raven rolled her eyes when the hostess blushed as she asked a question, _"James, wow, I hope you don't mind my gawking, but might I say that you look absolutely handsome this evening. Who are you wearing?"_

He smiled, and the hostess melted, _"Uh … Ethan Calban, but you look ravishing as well, I actually feel paled in comparison to your stunning beauty."_

"He is such a gentleman, would you not agree friend Raven?" Starfire giggled like an embarrassed schoolgirl – which wouldn't be new to Raven. The sorceress crossed her arms over her chest and sat enduring the pain of loosing brain cells while she dumbed herself down to watch this waste-of-a-TV-show.

Helga babbled, _"Oh James, you're too nice for your own good … so how does it feel to be in Jump City? I hear it's your hometown."_

James shrugged nonchalantly, _"Born and raised and I have to say it feels … kind of weird to be back home after traveling the world, you know."_

"_I bet, so, do you think Bruce Wayne will be here?"_

"_I wouldn't be surprised, in fact, I'm kind of hoping he would, I wouldn't mind having a little chat with the man as successful and generous as he is. You never know, maybe a little of his talents might rub off on me if we stick around long enough."_

"_James you are as talented as they come! Well, I better not hold you up, maybe I'll see you … later …"_ Helga went speechless when James reached out and removed a sliver of her hair out of her eyes to tuck it behind her ear, she may have been at least a decade older than him, but she was still enchanted by his charming smile.

"_I'll make sure to see you later, Helga,"_ he looked at the camera and winked then continued on down the red carpet, leaving a breathless hostess alone to stare into space with hearts in her eyes.

That's, when Raven had enough and mentally reached for the remote, shutting off the TV, she expected Starfire to protest, but the girl just swooned and dazed over the couch. Raven sneered, "Starfire, I'll say it once, celebrities are just high-priced show ponies prancing around TV to try and brainwash society into thinking that is the ideal way to live. Don't fall into their evil web of lies."

Starifre sighed wistfully, "James Jax … here in Jump City … oh friend Raven do you think we could go to that Charity Ball just to receive the James's autograph? I wonder if he'll be our friends."

_Oh, he'll have more than friendship on the mind,_ Raven thought bitterly and got up from the couch, "Whatever Star, I'm going to my room, call me when there is a real emergency."

She took a step away from the couch, but then the Titan alarm for trouble sounded. Snapping Starfire out of her daze and putting an agitated face on Raven as the boys came rushing into the Ops Room, Robin demanding, "What's going on?"

Raven crossed her arms over her chest, raised a brow, and sneered, "Besides the glitz and glam corrupting the minds of America? Just the usual."

Robin gave Raven an odd look as a response to her statement, but with a shake of his head disregarded it and went up to the super-computer to get some answers. A few typing and a clicking and the Titans were headed for … a school … Beast Boy blinked and blinked again rubbing his eyes, "Huh? Are you for real?"

Robin frowned, "According to this, it's a shooting, Titans! GO!"

Beast Boy laughed, "Schools out!"

Cyborg scoffed, "In an academy? What are they teaching kids now a days?"

Raven flying beside him dryly responded, "How to look and act like Malibu Barbie and Surfin' Ken and to shun those who don't see life their way, civilized society, hypocritical to the end."

"You didn't get your time to meditate, did you?" Cyborg chuckled.

"No, I was too busy watching James Jax get his moment of fame on national television, it was almost impossible to hold down my excitement," Raven sneered and entered shot-gun of the T-car while Starfire and Beast Boy jumped into the back.

Robin hopped onto his bike and with a revved engine they were off.

Beast Boy smirked, "Hey, you guys know what school we're going to?"

Starfire tilted her head, "Well, I remember when Friend Robin pulled up the picture, I thought the title of the facility said _Ocean View Academy_."

"Yeah," Beast Boy's smirk grew, "That's the exclusive school for the rich and famous teenie-boppers."

"Ooo!" Starfire jumped, "I know what that means! Child stars! Right!"

"Yep," Beast Boy grinned even wider, "Dude, I just can't believe we're going there!"

Raven scoffed, "Don't look so excited, looks like we're about to see the ugly side of stencil-town."

Rushing passed a grove and speeding down a winding trail straight up a cliff with a nasty drop on Raven's right, Robin took the lead all the way to the top where Ocean View Academy sat perched on top of the cliff looking over the bay. (Three guesses to how it got its name and the first two don't count). Robin swirled around the circle driveway and stopped right next to a few police cars, Cyborg parked behind him and the Titans all headed for the yellow-tapped entrance of the school.

Kids their age all in uniforms lined up the driveway, trying to rubberneck into the school to see what was going on. The moment the Titans arrived the whispers flew, and Robin felt like he was in high-school all over again, he steeled his shudder of discomfort and lead his team passed the yellow-tap and into the school. Walking up the steps, and meeting with a few cops that gave them odd looks Robin asked, "What's going on?"

One of the cops shrugged, "You tell us, I don't remember anyone calling for the –"

"Titans!"

From down the hall the Titans all turned their heads to see a woman dressed in slacks, heels, a button up blouse and plastic framed glasses with neat blond hair pulled back in a low ponytail. Holding a clipboard in one arm and marching toward them as if she had a personal vendetta she had to deal with. Her serious hazel eyes and a flick of her wrist the cops around the Titans all cleared off as she approached.

Robin picked up on her authority and knew she was in charge, "You sent for us?"

"Yes, however reluctant I am to say, lead detective, Detective Daevon," she huffed and flipped her hair back, "however, seeing as this case had just took a turn for the unusual, I'm going to have to ask the Titans' cooperation as well as their involvement, so if you'll follow me to the scene of the crime then we'll discuss the details. Brace yourselves kids, you're in for a real treat."

She lead them through the hallway, down a few stairs and finally into the cafeteria where there were more cops cordoning the scene where chairs and tables were tipped over, food was thrown about some kids on the corner being questioned. Some of them looked shaken up, others of them looked excited to be apart of a big Hollywood crime scene. Detective Daevon ushered the Titans to the back of the cafeteria, into the freezer where two cops were looking out for a cuffed man in his late 40s. With graying hair and a tired look on his face, he looked up when he heard the heels of Detective Daevon approaching and sneered when he noticed the Titans were with her.

"Should have known a bitch like you would turn this into a circus."

Detective Daevon scowled and ordered the cops to clear out of the back, she slammed the door shut behind them and walked up to the cuffed man, grabbing a hand full of the front of his shirt she pulled him up so they were eye level, "A bitch like me would rather see you rot in hell for daring to come in here guns blazing nearly killing two innocent kids."

"Piss off," the man sneered and Detective Daevon threw him back down on his chair which tipped over and he fell to the floor on his side. His hands still cuffed behind his back, he scowled at the Detective, "that's police brutality!"

"Oh, you do _**not **_want to know what police brutality is you son of a bitch," Daevon growled.

Cyborg took a hold of her shoulder and pulled her back, "Easy, easy, lets all calm down and discuss this in a civilized manner. Sir –"

"Names Ben," the man scoffed and sat up as best he could.

Robin took the lead, "Alright Ben, I'm sure you already know who we are."

Ben rolled his eyes, "Yeah, the fuckin' three ring circus, what the hell does the Titans have to do with this? I already know I'm going to jail for attempted murder, but goddamn it I had a fuckin' reason!"

Raven crossed her arms over her chest, "And what reason was that?"

"Red X killed my daughter!"

Beast Boy, who was sniffing around the barrels of melting ice-cream scrambled back and sneezed himself back to a human sitting on the floor, Starfire dropped a random object she was holding, forcing Robin to – on pure reflex – catch it with wide eyes. Raven's mouth dropped open and Cyborg's eye comically popped out of their sockets, and at once all the Titans asked, _**"What?"**_

Ben sneered, "I said, Red X killed my daughter, what? I have to spell it out for ya? That bastard needs to die and even if I'm not the one to do it, I'm sure he'll get his, what goes around comes around."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Robin held up his hands stopping Ben's rant before it started, dropping the item he caught from Starfire to the ground he stared Ben down as hard as he could. Giving Batman a run for his money, "Red X … you mean … you _saw_ Red X here, on this campus?"

"No," Ben scowled, "the son of a bitch goes to this school."

"What!" Cyborg narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "Red X? International thief, goes to Ocean View Academy? As in … as in a _student_?"

"What? Am I speaking fuckin' English here? Yes! Red X is a student at Ocean View Academy! Want me to draw a picture? God."

Starfire hovered over him, staring at the man in wide-eyed awe and confusion, "And … the Red X … he damaged your daughter?"

"Damaged? He _killed_ her!" Ben huffed, getting frustrated with having to repeat himself about his little girl, "Gods … she worked at the Historical Museum at the corner of Flint and 45th Avenue right across from Dezellem's Café … her favorite place she went to on her lunch break … she caught X … in the middle of stealing something called the Dark Karma Ring and was about to phone you guys … but he-he slit her throat. My little girl, Jenna …"

Beast Boy frowned, "Hey … I remember that … we were called on the scene just three months ago."

Robin's frown grew darker, "Yes … the woman, Jenna I guess her name is, her throat was cut open, but the weapon used was never found."

Detective Daevon sighed, and pulled out a zip-lock bag which was clipped on her clipboard, she tossed it to Raven who's mouth cracked open only slightly when she observed the bloody object within the bag. She beckoned Robin to her side and all the Titans huddled around her to get a look at the red X blade caked in dried blood. Starfire gasped and slapped a hand over her mouth as she began to choke and her eyes burn with approaching tears. Robin's frown turned to a disgusted scowl and Raven huffed as Cyborg took the bag and scanned it with his robotic eye, Raven shook her head, "Well … I guess the mystery on whether or not Red X is a good or a bad guy is solved."

Detective Daevon joined the group, "Now you see why I called you all down here … Ben over there had that in his pocket. He says it was mailed to him along with this …"

Raven took the note, read it over herself, then read it aloud, "_'I know who killed your little girl. The Titans couldn't find him, but I did, attending Ocean View Academy. I am truly sorry for your loss; I just hope this knowledge will bring you some comfort.'_ Signed as _'The Good Samaritan'_. Put together by magazine clippings."

She handed it to Robin who scrutinized the note, "Now why would a Good Samaritan send a note not written but full of magazine clippings?"

Beast Boy snorted, "My biggest deal here is with the whole knowing who Red X is … I mean the dude didn't even write it down on the paper. How do we know he's even telling the truth?"

"We don't," Raven answered and looked at Detective Daevon, "does anyone else know about this?"

She shook her head, "Nope, no one from my squad, only us and Ben."

"Good," Robin stared Ben down, "I'd like to keep it that way … the shooting and our arrival has probably scared X off … he'll be packing up to leave right about now, but at least it's a lead that we'll follow."

Detective Daevon scoffed, "What are you trying to say? That you're going undercover at the school?"

Robin shook his head and sighed, "No, X is smart, he'll know he's being tagged … the best thing to do is not to release any of this to the press and if you will, could you let us handle this Miss Daevon."

Daevon shot Robin a cold look, but huffed and shrugged, "I suppose, but just remember who gave you the lead."

"We're eternally grateful." Robin nodded his head – taking a page from Starfire's etiquettes – then glanced over at the distant Ben and sympathized with him. With a hand on his shoulder the older man looked up at his mask and as softly, yet firmly as he could he whispered, "I'm sorry for Jenna …"

Ben just blinked, and allowed for one slip of a tear to come down his face, Raven looked away and was the first to leave the scene, feeling his heavy emotions coming down on her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath while she waited for the rest of her team. Robin slipped out and with him Starfire who was walking on the ground a hand holding her arm. Beast Boy leaned against the wall and Cyborg shook his head and rubbed the back of his head.

Each of them had a face of deep thought.

Each of them couldn't really wrap their fingers around the crime.

Each of them could relate to the hate within the man's heart.

But for some odd reason … despite this case shrouding one of their most notorious criminals … none of them could believe in the murder. Starfire sighed and smiled weakly trying to get her team's attention, "Well then … what are your orders … Friend Robin …?"

"Research … Star," Robin softly whispered, "… old fashion footwork."

**--**

"He's obsessing again," Raven ran her fingers through her long grown out violet hair, having grown it out to look a little less like herself as a Titan. Dressed casually in a black t-shirt that read: _'I'm smiling … that __**ALONE**__ should scare you.'_ a smiley face at the bottom with swirling eyes and jeans with sneakers. She wandered beside Starfire looking like average teenage girls just cruising the Mall.

Starfire was in a loose white short mini skirt and pink shirt with a cute silver bunny on her chest, a pair of pink shades resting on top of her head, excessive jewelry, heels and a purse, she tilted her head and looked down at her shorter friend, "But … it's been over two Earthen weeks … I do not think his _'obsession'_ should last this long."

Raven shrugged, "Its Red X, what do you expect? Robin still thinks the suit incident was his fault and he's still beating himself over it. Just let him run his course and sooner, but more likely later, he'll find another project to delve into. He's just like that."

"You know him rather well, do you not … friend Raven …" Starfire shyly mentioned fiddling with her purse; Raven recognized the look and sighed. She was never good with pep-talks, but hell, she was a friend and as much as she's learned since being on this planet, friendship meant having to have a heart-to-heart with each other.

So stopping in the middle of the mall she walked Starfire over to one of the random benches where an indoor koi pond was at the center. Sitting down beside the crescent fallen princess, Raven, as best as she could, tried to be gentle, "Star … he likes you, alright, that's never going to change. I thought you understood that to him saving the world is more important than a relationship."

Starfire sighed heavily, "Yes, I know … I do understand … but I can not help but to worry for him … the things that go on in his mind … sometimes I fear that I can never understand, and … I feel … like …"

"…" Raven blinked and tried to understand where Starfire was going with this, then just threw out her thought, "… like you two have nothing in common?"

"Exactly!" Starfire looked down at Raven with hopeful – yet lost – emerald eyes and smiled as best she could. Not at all liking how she was spoiling the mood for the girls'-day-out that she had set up for them when Robin had given them permission to take a break from research. However, the smile could not stay on her face, "Oh Friend Raven … maybe I am wrong in the pursuit of an Earthen relationship … I hardly even understand Earth let alone their social habits … how is it that it is so easy for you to adapt? Are you not from another world as I am?"

Raven looked away, "That's complicated … Star … you just …" Raven trailed off when she noticed Starfire wasn't paying any attention to her.

Following her line of sight, Raven found her staring into Pink World and the dark sorceress cringed at her first thought, _Oh … please God, no …_ however, when she took a closer look she noticed that there were more girls in the shop than usual. Raising a brow, she glanced at Starfire and Starfire looked down at her and just like that. Her smile was back in full swing, "Come Friend Raven! We must have a look at what is so exciting within the World of Pink!"

Raven yelped when Starfire grabbed her wrist and whip-lashed her into the bright pink world, flinching when she came in contact with a pink shirt and nearly tripped over a fallen pink dress. She followed Starfire all the way to the cashiers where the girls were all gathered pushing and shoving trying to get something that was obviously turning the store into a madhouse.

"Ow! That's my hair bitch! Get off!"

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod! Amy! I just put it in!"

"AAAHHH! I just HAVE to win! Please God if I win this I'll never cheat on my math test again I swear!"

Raven winced when a girl screamed in her ear that turned into a siren when her friend joined her and they started to jump up and down like psychopaths, the sorceress got to the front of the manic-line and leaned over the counter to the cashier, "Excuse me … what's going on?"

The cashier gave Raven an odd look, as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world, she rolled her eyes and shrugged, "It's a contest … duh."

Raven took a breath and held her patience, "Yes, but what _kind _of contest."

This time, it wasn't the cashier that answered it was Starfire's squeal, "Raven! It's the Summer Bash with James Jax!"

Raven was still lost, for once in her life; Starfire knew what was going on, "What?"

"The Summer Bash with James Jax!" some girl repeated, "Where the hell have you been? Sleeping in a cave?"

"Summer bash …" Raven thought then dared to asked, "You mean this contest is about someone staying with this James Jax for their entire summer vacation?"

"_DUH!"_

Raven winced when all the girls at once chimed in, all except Starfire who was holding two slips of paper; she stared at them as if they were her life ticket to how to understand human social behavior. Or the secret to getting Robin's attention, either which, the papers in Starfire's hands were significant. The Tameranian hooked her arm with Raven's and in a hurry dragged her best friend out of the store and back to the koi pond. Raven glared at the princess just about reaching her breaking point with all the dragging she's been doing lately.

She decided to take her anger out on this _'James' _character since he had been the cause of her pain since two weeks ago when Starfire turned on that ridiculous show, "Starfire, you're not considering this … are you?"

Starfire smiled innocently up at Raven and smiled with a blush, "Well … Friend Raven … I know this may seem rather strange … but, it's as Beast Boy says … do not knock it unless you try it!"

"But that's just it, Star," Raven growled, "_Beast Boy _was the one that said it."

"Please Friend Raven, let us contribute to this competition it's most amusing!"

"Starfire, this is ridiculous! Do you know how many other people will be signing up for this? Practically the entire nation if not the world depending on how popular this, _James _is. The chance of you even winning is remote … besides … things like this, are always rigged."

"Maybe … but if that be the case than why so worried about participating?" Starfire argued cutely.

Raven eyed Starfire carefully, "I'm not worried, I don't care, and you shouldn't either. Helping to boost that pompous bastard's ego? It's degrading."

"… Hmm …" Starfire thought for a moment then sighed in defeat, "… well … if you say so friend Raven … I shall throw it away."

Raven nodded in satisfaction, "Good … anyway, we better get back to the Tower, Robin might need help."

Starfire followed, "All right."

While on their way out Starfire stopped by a nearby trashcan and threw away _one_ of the papers, folding the other and slipping it into her purse when Raven wasn't looking. The _'innocent'_, _'sweet',_ alien princess wandered along side Raven as they headed for home, the both of them entering one of the cars borrowed from the garage. A drop top Mercedes Benz – Robin's car, of course, _'Starfire'_ was just borrowing it – Raven was the one behind the wheel since Starfire had yet to understand the laws of the road on Earth. The girls cruised in style down the strip, through the bay and underground to get to their tower.

There, the two dressed back into their uniforms and Starfire stood in the middle of her room staring at the contest slip to get to be apart of James Jax's entourage. Starfire sat on her bed and blinked a few times at the questions, there were 5 … and the rules said that at least 4 out of those 5 questions had to be answered right. The questions were all about James Jax and … they were hard. Starfire was sure that if Raven were here to read it, she'd think that someone had to be a stalker in order to answer these questions, but the princess would not give up so easily.

With a deep sigh, she grabbed a pen, a hard surface, and laid on her bed chewing her pen in thought.

_What was the nickname James had when he was a child?_

Starfire tilted her head and dug into the back of her mind, searching for the answer. She may have not been a stalker, but she was as big a fan of James as they come, she gritted her teeth and thought and thought and thought, until it finally came to her! She jotted down the answer: _Shadow._ Satisfied with her answer she nodded and moved on.

_On James's sixteenth birthday Casey, Sandy, Baby, and Cindy were there, who are they? Be specific._

She was stomped for a moment, names, sixteenth birthday party … was the question talking about guests? Maybe someone he's related to? No, no one close to James had those names, or even _close _to having those names … had to be someone else. Starfire tilted her head, _'Be specific.'_ Then it dawned on her, it wasn't some_one_ it was a some_thing_, now she had to determine what it was the question was talking about.

Starfire tried to rack her brain for the time she watched that one show where it exclusively covered celebrity parties and James's party was on it as well. The alien princess hovered off her bed and walked to her closet, opening it up she pulled out a magazine she remembered covered James's sixteenth bash. Flipping to the page she smiled and giggled in glee when the names slapped her across the face. She flew back to her bed with the magazine and started to copy it down.

_Casey: Ashton Martin Vanquish S V12_

_Sandy: 911 Porsche Carrera 4S_

_Baby: Chevrolet Corvette Z06_

_Cindy: Pontiac Solstice_

_All sports vehicles._

_All were gifts._

She went on.

_James had a dog when he was a child, what was the name of the dog's chew toy?_

The color drained out of Starfire's face at the odd question, _The name of a … __Dog's__ chew toy? _She put the pen and paper down and started to float back and forth within her room in thought. Shuffling her mind and thinking of the correct answer, she remembered in an interview James did speak of a dog … but the name of its chew toy eluded her, let alone if the dog was even James's to begin with. In a defeated sigh she grabbed the pen and paper and guessed the answer: _Squeaky_.

Not at all liking that answer, but leaving it anyway she sighed and read the next question.

_What is James's father's mother's maiden name?_

Starfire chewed on her pen again and huffed, floating off her bed she walked out of her room while still holding the slip of paper and glancing down at the last question.

_What is James's true eye color?_

The Tameranian tilted her head, _Gold … right? Or is this a trick question …?_ Still confused she folded up the paper and put it in her pocket. Floating to the Ops Room into the kitchen where Beast Boy and Cyborg both sat surprisingly silent just slurping down homemade smoothies. Starfire joined them, observing that Raven was no where within the room she decided to ask, "Where is Friend Raven?"

"_In her room,"_ they both answered at once and Starfire blinked.

"Oh … okay …" just sitting she glanced at the two guys and thought for a moment, pulling out the questions she smoothed it out on the table and chewed on her lower lip. She didn't know if this was a good idea … but she figured she might as well give it a shot and cleared her throat to get her friend's attention, and in a tiny voice she said, "Excuse me … but … friends … might I ask your assistance with questions I believe I might need help on."

Cyborg and Beast Boy looked up; Beast Boy looked over her shoulder, "Exam? You going to college or something?"

"I do not believe so," Starfire slid them the paper, "it's a contest to stay with the James Jax for the Earthen summer if I am to get four out of the five questions right … and … I'm afraid the last two … give me trouble …"

"James? You mean … famous-for-being-famous James?" Cyborg took a hold of the paper and read it over then snickered, "These questions are stalker questions … you have to be a die hard fan of the guy to get the name of the guy's dog's chew toy."

Beast Boy burst out in a giggle fest, "What? Dude, that's stupid."

Starfire blushed, and Cyborg scoffed, "I'll say … but it's the last two you need help on … right Star?"

"Uh-huh …" she answered still blushing for even being categorized as a stalker or a die-heard fan … she never considered herself in such categories.

Cyborg sat beside Beast Boy and the two read the questions, it took a moment, but Beast Boy snapped his fingers and pointed to the last question, "It's a trick question! His eyes are brown … right?"

"I don't know …" Cyborg shook his head, "I remember the guy acting in that one movie with that one chick and his eyes were green then."

Beast Boy nodded, "Oh, yeah man, that movie kicked ass! But, dude, contacts."

Cyborg shook his head, "What if it's a tricky trick question and the answer that we get first in our heads is the answer that's wrong, and turns out to be our second answer … let's put down green."

"But they're brown!"

"Who cares! No one ever wins these things anyway, go a head Star, put down green," Cyborg passed Starfire the paper and the hesitant Tameranian took a while holding her pen.

"Well … friends … if the first answer is wrong, and your second answer is right, then what is to stop my third answer which would have been my second answer from being right as well?" Starfire shrugged, Cyborg shrugged as well, and Beast Boy just picked the wax out of ear, Starfire sighed, "I think I shall write amber gold."

"Whatever your pleasure," Beast Boy slurped his smoothie and Cyborg read off the fourth – yet last – question to be answered, "_'What is James's father's mother's maiden name?'_ BB?"

Beast Boy scratched his head, "Um … I don't know … Oh! Jennings!"

Starfire's mouth dropped, "How do you know that?"

Cyborg turned away, "I'm almost scared to know myself."

Beast Boy grinned, "Because, while we were doing research on Ocean View Academy, I peeked into the student files and saw that James actually goes to that school and his entire record was in that one file!"

"The James goes to that school!" Starfire jumped up and hovered over Beast Boy with wide-green eyes.

Beast boy nodded, "Yeah, I just said that, and his father's mother's maiden name is Jennings … but I think that's a rigged question because James never gave away that bit of information to the press. In fact, the press don't even know anything about his past."

Starfire quickly jotted down the answer and gave her boys two big hugs, practically crushing their spins, "Oh thank you! Thank you ever so much! Now I am certain to win this –"

"Hold on …" Beast Boy morphed into a mouse and dropped out of Starfire's bear-hug, plopping down on the ground, he took a breath and looked up at his friends, "… you're actually going to turn that in …?"

"Well …" Starfire let go of Cyborg and shyly she started to draw circles in the carpet, "… my intentions were purely to play the prank on friend Raven and turn in the contest within her name."

Cyborg shook his head and chuckled, "Star, Star, that's not a prank, that's a –"

"Perfect idea!" Beast boy jumped up ad snatched the paper, "Raven's gonna enter the contest alright … I mean, she _hates_ this guy, and if she wins she's gonna have no choice but to go along with it!"

Cyborg raised a brow, "Why won't she have a choice?"

"I just over heard Robin talking to himself … something about infiltrating the world of glitz and glam, but think about it …! How deep can you get if you become an instant entourage for the famous James Jax that actually goes to Ocean View! She's gonna hate it so much and it's the perfect frickin' plan! Star! You're a genius!"

Now it was Beast Boy's turn to do the hugging and Starfire just took it with an unsure look on her face, "I … am?"

"Yeah!" Beast Boy pulled away and looked at the entry sheet with a goofy grin on his green face, "Now all we gotta do is get Raven's picture, and mail this sucker."

Cyborg sighed and rolled his eyes, "This is a bad idea … but … even if we get Raven's picture, we're talking about celebrities. If Raven goes as she is, its bad press for every Titan out there, we're going to be looked at as irresponsible teenagers."

Beast Boy shrugged, "Then we'll get her to disguise herself, what's the problem?"

"Getting Raven to take a picture, _that's _the problem …"

"Maybe not."

"AHH!" all three conspirers jumped at the sound of their leader's voice sneaking up on all of them, Robin stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a sneaky smirk playing on his lips. Beast Boy jumped into Starfire's arms and Cyborg hid behind the alien princess, Starfire glanced at them all, looking guilty as sin with the paper in her hands, she smiled innocently at Robin and nervously giggled, "Heh … friend Robin … um … hello, salutations and ... would you like anything?"

Robin chuckled as Starfire dropped Beast Boy and still tried to maintain innocence, he shook his head and took a hold of the paper, "This, is actually a good idea … a one way ticket into Hollywood, if she wins of course and I don't have to go back to Bruce and actually admit I need his help."

Beast Boy popped his head up, "Wait … so … so you're in on the scam?"

"Not a scam," Robin smirked, "a legit crime case, and Raven's going to be a part of it, whether she likes it … or not."

"But she doesn't like this guy, nor does she like being in the spotlight with all these celebrities," Cyborg pointed out, "don't you think we're bring … I don't know … cruel?"

Robin shrugged, "Actually I think it makes perfect senses, Raven doesn't like him, makes it easier for her to be suspicious of everything while in an undercover operation."

At that moment, Raven finally made her entrance, the door slid open, book in hand; she read a few more words until she stopped dead in her tracks in the middle of the stairs and looked up. Closing her book, she gazed down at her friends, huddled together, whispering … and Starfire, with one of the contest sheets in her hands. She frowned and narrowed her gaze on her _'friends'_, "What's going on …"

--

**A/N: Dun, dun, dun!! ****It's the beginning of the end for poor old Raven. Lol! Feedback please, I'd love to here what you gotta say about this newest installment of mines.**

**L8erz**


	2. Just a Thought

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Just a Thought**

James Jax … the mysterious megastar who's fame seemed to shoot up literally over night. No one knew where he came from, or what he did, but he was as famous as hell. Knowing all the right people, cliquing with the fabulous and living life like he had it made … whatever it was that he was doing, everyone knew he was doing it right. However, if anyone had a longer attention span and paid closer attention, they'd realize that something wasn't at all quite right about him. In fact … the mystery that shrouded this popular starlet, was the key, no way could someone as non existent as _'James Jax_' suddenly pop up on the radar.

It seemed too perfectly planned.

He had something to hide …

And if there's something to hide, best to hide it in plain sight.

A yawn ripped through his mouth as he shook off the last bit of sleep from his head, James opened his amber eyes and stared lazily into his kitchen, trying to remember why he had gotten out of bed to come here. Leaning on the counter which separated the kitchen from the living room – eh, the rest of his living space. Just a small studio/apartment next door to a nightclub and a drug-dealer, funny how those two things seemed to coincide with one another.

He had a spiral staircase that lead to the second floor, and assuming that James was a normal guy he'd have his bedroom up there and away from the living space, but no. His bed was right behind the stairs, and angled so he could see the entrance into his place perfectly. Some might call him paranoid, others a complete mental case, he just liked to call himself prepared.

However … with all that information, he _still _hadn't figured out why he had woken up and went to the kitchen.

Then, this stomach reminded him when it growled.

He blinked and rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Duh."

Just about to fix himself a sandwich, he froze when he heard in the distance something go off. It sounded like a cell phone … then … it hit him, it was _his_ cell phone, jogging from the kitchen over to the couch, he dug into the seat and found the ringing gray Rzr and answered without looking at the caller, "Hello?"

"_James, it's Jenny, the results are in and you have to pick one of the last five girls."_

James blinked at the name, then remembered, Jenny Seth aka Jinx, still trying to get her name cleared to become a Titan. She became a publicist in the process and a surprisingly damn good one to tide her over until Robin decided her fate. To say the idea of Jinx wanting to become a Titan, yet was working for him made him uneasy … but hell, she was a friend. A friend that had to help him remember what she was talking about, he tried on his own to figured it out, but shook his head, and gave up to ask, "What?"

"_The contest. You know, the Summer Bash? Damn it James I thought you remembered!"_

"Oh! Right, right, _that_, I thought I canceled that?"

"_No. You didn't."_

"Damn … alright then, let me clear my schedule and I'll be down." Now that was funny, considering the fact that his entire schedule had to deal with keeping up this appearance …

"_You better make it quick, Darren is getting suspicious."_

James scoffed, "This is Hollywood, everything's swept under the rug."

He hung up and pulled the phone from his ear, stuffing it in his pocket; he sighed and grumbled under his breath at the lack of breakfast – strike that, it was noon – and moved from the kitchen towards his bed where a drawer stood that held some of his clothes. Getting dressed and ready to face the general public in a matter of minutes he headed out and straight to_ 'his' _office where Jenny would be waiting for him. Not even 30 minutes and he was entering the expensive lobby of a building he supposedly owned, nodding at the front desk she smiled and allowed him to go through without signing in.

Catching his privet elevator straight to the top floor, his office, he stepped off and greeted his two guards, "Manny, Jeffery."

"_Mr. Jax,"_ they both respond robotically, Jax waltzed down the marble and gold hall to the Plexiglas doors with gold handles.

James grabbed them both, pulled them open and walked into the carpeted office and smirked when he spotted his catty young publicist with pink hair and pink eyes sitting cross legged on top of his desk. She smirked, "Well … I'll say this, your timing is impeccable."

"Forget who I am?" James walked around his desk and sat at the leather swivel chair; Jenny jumped off his desk, and reached for her briefcase. Digging through, she took out her five portfolios and laid them all before her boss, standing with a hand to her hip and another on his desk. She watched James's reaction as he leaned over his desk and eyed the five exceptionally beautiful young women that were all candidates for the winner contestants. He looked up with his amber gold eyes at her and smirked, "Last chance hero, you can call this off if you want to. Who knows how dangerous I can be around a pretty girl."

Jenny's pink eyes danced flirtatiously, "You're the boss, _X, _I have no say in this."

James grinned, and shook his head, "For a girl who turned over a new leaf, you sure like to play the con."

She scoffed, and rolled her eyes, "Please, as Robin would say: A zebra doesn't change its strips. As far as he's concerned I'm still a danger to society."

"You're working for me aren't you?" James chuckled and Jenny glared at him.

"Shut up and pick a girl already, Darren's in a panic because he can't find his winning contestant."

James looked over the pictures of the five girls and raised a curious brow, "Who'd he pick?"

Jenny leaned over and pointed to a pretty brunette with glasses and freckles, she posed for the camera tilted sideways chin tilted down and hair cascading over her shoulder. Her smile sweet and innocent with a spice of intelligence, she looked like an angel, James picked it up and opened it, he leaned back and read her profile out loud, "Libby Hawson, 16, goes to Grant Academy, mother's a DA prosecutor, and father's a cop …" he gave Jinx a look, and she shrugged, he tossed the fold to the floor, "Next."

He reached out and grabbed the next girl's profile while Jenny sat on his desk again and listen to him look over the next girl. A blonde with fiery blue eyes, sexy smile, and a body begging for attention, "Hmm, Amanda Tailor, you are hot. You are also 18, perfectly legal, a freshman at an Arizona University; studying to become a professional beautician … you also won a lawsuit for sexual harassment against one of your professors … yeah, can anyone say liability, gold-digger. Next!"

Another tossed profile, and he moved on to the third victim, a red head, average smile, average look, average, average, average, James didn't have to read the profile to know she'd be boring, "Next."

Jenny frowned, "You didn't even read it."

"She looks boring," he shrugged and moved to the fourth and arched a curious brow at the dark midnight blue-black haired girl with a dry look on her otherwise striking face. Granted her skin looked as white as ivory, but he had a feeling her attitude was anything but dull. With a near perfect hourglass figure, James guessed she knew how to handle herself despite her petite, nearly frail appearance. It was her dark blue, nearly indigo looking eyes that held his attention; "Hello …" he opened the folder, "… Rae Roth …"

Jenny sat up and looked down at the folder, "What?"

James looked up, "Rae Roth … that's her name."

"Really?" Jenny looked over and noticed the picture, then frowned, "… she doesn't look too happy."

"With a name like that?" James scoffed, "I bet she likes the darker side to life … hmm … and I'd be right, both her parents are dead, killed in a car crash, drunk driver – tragic – and she lives with her brother, Richard Roth. Goes to P.S. 113, 17, and … that's it … you couldn't get me more on this girl?"

Jenny sat back and shrugged, "Well … that was all we could pick up … but … I think she was the girl who got all the questions right … even the failsafe one."

"… She got a perfect five?" James blinked, "That's fuckin' impossible, I don't have and never _had _a damn dog, how the hell could she possible know the answer to a nonexistence dog's _chew toy_?"

"She got it right … stalker?"

"…" James looked down at Rae's picture then threw it to the side, "Not enough info, I don't like it."

"Yeah … but you won't like the next one," Jenny shrugged, "she's a crazy bitch, got put in prison for stabbing her boyfriend four times for accusing her of being a whore and sleeping around."

"On second thought," James reached down and picked up Rae's folder, "I'll take the chance, I always liked a mystery girl."

He handed Jenny the folder, and she hesitantly took it … looking at the picture she chewed on her lower lip, then looked down at James, "You sure?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, "Why not? I'm sure she'll be fun."

"…" Jenny huffed and put the folder in her briefcase, but paused to give the picture another hard look, and frowned, "Yeah … fun …"

--

_Ooo … I'll kill'em, I'll kill'em, I'll kill'em, I'll kill'em … I'll burying them all alive – no! I'll drown them all in the bay, strap a damn ball chain to all their ankles and watch them sink and laugh … yeah … I'll laugh when their face change colors, then die … and once they're dead, I'll take them out, chop off their limbs and sell them off e-bay … no body will suspect a thing … no body … _Oh if thoughts could kill, Rae Roth of 17 years, would have become the suspect to a multi-homicide. Senior at P.S. 113, living with her older brother Richard Roth, parents both dead, and who's hobbies are reading, and watching the sunset. Aka _Raven _of the Teen Titans, sat in the living room of her _'brother's'_ place, a beach front home, her backyard the entire Jump City Bay where she could sit and watch the sunset anytime she wanted. Her legs curled up under her, and leaning on the arm of the couch, her dark blue eyes that looked amethyst in the right angles glared darkly at the carpeted floor.

Rae chewed on her lower lip, the corner of said lips turning up into a furious scowl when she heard the page turn of the morning news. Her _'brother'_ sitting across from her reading the news carefully looked over the paper and immediately hid when he saw her dark eyes glaring at him. Rae took a deep breath and sighed, but that didn't help her mood, with her long dark blue-black hair pulled back in a ponytail, she finally spoke up with a sharp tone, "You know it's been a week since you sent that damn paper …"

"Yes … but it takes time to read about a million or so copies of the entries," Richard answered without putting the paper down.

Rae grinded her teeth, "And yet you're still confident that _'I'll'_ win? You're so supportive; I have no idea how to contain my gratitude."

Richard put the paper down and with his deep sapphire blue eyes nailed Rae with a serious glare, "Well, if you're so confident that it's impossible for you to lose then I don't see the problem."

"…" Rae looked ready to tear him apart.

"…" Richard matched her glare.

Then … Richard returned to his paper, and Rae shot up from her spot on the couch to march over to the kitchen to fix herself something to cool down her nerves. Knowing that if she was coped up here having to wait for results to that stupid contest any longer with a treasonous _'friend'_ _someone_ was going to be sleeping with the fishes, and it damn sure wasn't going to be her … but she had a good idea who. The idea was becoming all too tempting to pass up … she'll get rid of Robin first an then Starfire, that sneaky little –

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

Rae and Richard's heads all snapped to the door, Rae's murderous thoughts flew out the window when paranoia kicked in. Could it have been their other three friends? No, otherwise they'd introduce themselves through the door. Richard dropped the paper and stalked carefully towards the door; Raven stayed behind the kitchen counter and grabbed a nearby knife. Not really an expert at throwing it, but damn it all if she wasn't so good at stabbing.

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

Richard reached the door and grabbed the door knob, and asked, "Who is it?"

"_Jenny Seth, I'm here for a Rae Roth, I'm James Jax's publicists."_

Rae jerked her head back, Richard glanced over his shoulder at her, stunned, Raven mouthed, _'No way …'_ Richard unlocked the door and opened it to come face to face with a young publicist. _Real _young, she must have been _at least _Raven's age, with familiar pink eyes and pink hair she let down and flow over her shoulder. She smiled at Richard and held out her hand, "Hello."

Rae blinked, _Jinx?_ Richard smiled as he took Jenny's hand and shook it, Rae eyeing his actions carefully. Did he not know who he was talking to? She didn't even bother to hide her own identity, "I'm Richard, Rae's brother … who are you again?"

With the biggest most trustworthy smile she could muster she said chirpily, "Jenny Seth, Mr. Jax's publicist and I'm here to be the first to congratulate your sister on winning the contest! She gets to be the lucky girl that'll be apart of James's entourage for entire summer vacation with the full blown star treatment _and_ she gets to walk away with fifty thousand dollars in the end!"

"That's a lot to gain over just answering five questions," Rae made herself known and stood beside Richard – she put the knife back in its place – both Jenny and Rae eyed one another carefully. Both knowing exactly who the other was, but not entirely sure how to go about announcing it, so they both played their rolls in their characters.

Richard offered Jenny a place to sit and she took a seat while looking around and observing the cozy environment, her eyes landing on Rae as the disguised sorceress sat down and crossed her legs. Making note of her knew look, and taking in every attractive quality now that she was out of uniform, Jenny gulped and wondered faintly if James – aka Red X – would spot her being a Titan if they met in person. Despite it being clever, James wasn't stupid, and then there was the question of _why _she was doing this!

She _'won'_ a contest that only girly-girly celebrity crazed women would enter.

If anything she thought Starfire out of anyone else of the Titans would be the one sitting with her today … but Raven?

What the hell was going on!?

Did the world end while she was asleep?

Jenny tried not to gawk, but it was hard not to as she pulled up her briefcase and took out a stabled stack of paper and dropped it on the coffee table, "Well then, you both look like you just want to get this over with, so … there's the contract stating all the legalities of the situations, _and_ covering the fact that you understand you're free to do what you want while you stay with Mr. Jax, free to buy anything you want under his name, and will be receiving the money by a wire transfer at the end of your session. So all I'll need is your account number, and signature."

_Click,_ she pressed the ballpoint pen and handed it to Rae, who had picked up the thick contract – about 14 pages thick – and skimmed through it, glancing up at the pen, she frowned and glanced at Richard. Her supposed _'brother' _gave her a pointed look with his sapphire eyes, and Rae rolled hers; taking the pen she put the contract down, flipped to the end sheet and signed the bottom, then wrote down the account number clearly within the boxes. Afterwards she handed the contract back to Jenny who's smile widened, "Great! Now that we got that over with, it's time to teach you how to answer questions."

Rae raised a brow, "Excuse me?"

Jenny blinked, "For the interview, James is going to be coming by your house later tonight to congratulate you on your winning and to take you to his Villa. So of course the paparazzi want to know who the lucky girl is, and they want to know all about her, so, let's get started. Rae, how do you feel about winning the contest?"

"…" Rae glanced at Richard and Richard slapped his hand over his forehead when she turned back to Jenny and shrugged, "… Excited?"

Jenny gave a dry look, "Think you can _try_ looking excited?"

Rae sneered, "I can't help it if I'm not, to be honest my _friends_ put me up to it."

"That's a big no-no."

"… What is?"

"Never give too much information, especially information that the press could use against you."

"You mean against James."

"…"

"…"

Jenny sighed, "This is going to take awhile."

Rae sat back with a passive expression, Richard shook his head.

_**3 hours later …**_

Jenny groaned and leaned against the frame of Rae's bedroom door, tired pink eyes closed and the top two buttons of her suit undone. She opened her eyes and looked down at the sorceress who sat in front of her vanity mirror while Tommy Morgan. Celebrity make-up artist and stylist shuffled around Rae trying to make her look perfect. Rae growled when he grabbed her chin and turned her up so he could pluck a few of her eyebrows, "Girlfriend, when I'm through with you, it won't matter what you say to the stalkerazzi, they'll all be drooling at your feet. So say good-bye to plain-Jane and hello to sexy-senorita."

Rae scoffed, and tried to shove Tommy away, "Save it, no matter how much make-up you put on its not going to hide the fact that I'm not thrilled about going through with it."

"Girl, you crazy," Tommy held up a finger and snaked his head, "you're about to go through summer vay-kay being treated like a queen and living with one of the most eligible bachelors on this side of the world! I mean, why bother enter the contest if you're not going to like it!"

"I already said that it wasn't me, it was my friends."

"But you signed the contract right?"

"Yeah, but –"

"No buts honey-cup," Tommy turned her around so she was facing the mirror and he could work with her hair, "you clearly want to go through with this, and shit, I'd go for it in a heartbeat. A full summer of free stuff? Damn I'd go on a shopping spree every damn day … besides, it's easy to answer questions, just lie."

"Lie?" Rae sneered.

Tommy shrugged, and reached for a can of hairspray after he pulled back the top of her hair into a half-ponytail, shaking the can he whispered into Rae's ear before spraying, "Lie."

Jenny sighed and glanced at her watch, "Yeah, well, I'm out of here, James will be here any minute, and Tommy, make sure to stay in the house until the cameras are all gone."

"Gotcha babe."

Rae started to hack and choke on her own air when Tommy went crazy with the hairspray, making it impossible to breath and her head becoming tight and light. Trying to stop him, he pushed her hand back down and continued to spray, clearly concentrated on tame her already tamed hair. Coughing, Rae was barely aware of Tommy dapping on blush with glitter and lightly applying lip-gloss to make her lips shine. Faintly behind her oxygen deprived head she heard a helicopter suddenly fly over the rooftop, "Wha … what was that …?"

Tommy shrugged, "Oh, just the celebrity news channel, I think James is on his way, in about a few minutes he'll be –"

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

"Oh … well speak of the devil," Tommy pulled back and helped Rae to her feet; she wobbled a bit still trying to breath after being chocked to death by hair products. With dark blue low-rider jeans, silver slip-ons, a black tang-top a silver sash and a small tight jacket. She felt the weight of the silver hoop earrings on her ears and their sway as she turned her head when she heard Richard approaching her room.

He took one look at her and his moth dropped at how different she looked with the light make-up on her face. Blinking to be sure he was still seeing his same partner, he glanced at Tommy who leaned over her and put his chin on her shoulder with a sneaky grin and wink, "I know, I work wonders," patting the sorceress on the butt he pushed her out, "Time to go, go, go princess. Make big brother proud!"

Richard lead Rae downstairs where camera flashes were seen through the windows and chatty noise was heard all around the house, Rae cringed and glared at the door, Richard sighed and turned to his friend, "You ready?"

She turned her glare on him and snapped, "What do you think."

"I don't think," Rae rolled her eyes, but sneered when Richard took a hold of her forearms and forced her to look up at him, seeing the sincerity in his deep blue eyes, she almost couldn't hold the grudge against him as he whispered, "I _know_ I trust you … I got your back no matter what."

Rae gulped and pulled away from him when the door was knocked upon once more; she gave it an uncertain look then scowled, "Yeah … but you can't save me from the mob?"

"They're mostly harmless," Richard smirked and ushered her to the door, and asked again, "ready?"

"… Let's just get through with this, Jenny coached me enough," Rae reached for the door and yanked it open, Richard stood back when almost immediately the cameras were shoved into her face and the flashes went off like crazy. Shouting, screaming, questionings, and the bright light that shown on her when the helicopter flashed its light down on her. Making the mistake of looking up, Raven cringed and shied back into the house, grabbing the door, about ready to slam it shut.

Until God opened up the clouds and said: _'I hate you Raven!'_

Her heel slip from under her and she fell back.

To the cameras it looked like she just had a clumsy moment and slipped on her heels, but the damage was done.

Bracing to hit the ground, very aware of the fact that she couldn't use her powers to stop herself from the fall, Rae gasped when her elbow was grabbed and she was yanked back up, only to fall into someone's arms. Feeling like a complete idiot who didn't even know how to walk straight, Rae was just about a hair's width away from calling the whole thing off. Screw Red X, he was bound to show up somewhere else, this mission was absolutely pointless! There was no way; _no way_ she was going to make herself look like a fool!

Fully prepared for an all out rant, Rae found herself robbed of speech when she realized just whose arms she had fallen into.

That someone being the one person she would be spending the next summer of her life with, and with her hands on his chest she got to feel his strong muscles. In fact, with the help of the many flashing lights she was able to see his perfectly chiseled body, and when she looked up. Rae knew she'd be lying if she said he wasn't as good looking in person as he was on TV. Those dreamy, dazzling amber gold bedroom eyes and a face too cute, too handsome for words, he smiled and a choir of angels sang somewhere in the distance.

Rae gulped … there was _no way_ someone this hot could exist; Rae blushed and blinked ashamed that for even a split second she actually felt attracted to the opposite sex. Of course she wasn't a complete cold-fish, it was just … besides Malchior … and Aqualad … she never felt this attracted to _anyone_. Then, he spoke, and the world around them melted, she only heard him, only saw him, "Hey there, you okay?"

She blinked dumbly, wondering why he'd ask such a stupid question, and then remembered that she had fallen into his arms and as if she was touched by fire she leapt back, "Sorry!"

He chuckled and that smile of his turned into a slick smirk, Rae felt chills travel all up and down her spine … there was something about that smirk that not only invited her, but warned her. He obviously knew how to get his way with only a simple look, and goddamn it all if it wasn't working on her, "Don't worry about it … you must be Rae Roth, I'm James Jax … congratulations, you're in for a wild summer."

Rae looked down at his hand to shake, and against her better judgment now that she was getting her head back together, she reached out and shook his hand. A firm shake, which sent suspicious electric, tingles through out her body. In the back of her mind Rae had a feeling there was more to this James then met the eye. As she finally glanced around the cameras, the news vans, and the single black limo that waited at the driveway, she knew why something felt off.

Eyes …

Eyes watching for mess ups …

Eyes … all on Him … one wrong move, one right move he'd be launched to automatic fame or infamy. Rae gulped when the weight of playing star-struck fan suddenly laid heavy on her, reminding her of the pressure build up back on Azarath. When everything, death and life rested in her hands … the eyes … so many eyes … she shivered, but hid it behind a fake smile, despite what Jenny may think, Raven was the star at masquerades, "Heh … can't wait."

He held out his hand for her to take, and Rae hesitated, but trying not to make a scene – not like she hadn't already – she took it and allowed for him to lead her off her front lawn straight to the sidewalk towards the limo. Sticking by his side she kept her mouth shut, but the muscles were starting to hurt with forced smile on her face as she posed for a few photo ops and spoke to the screaming reporters, "Ms. Roth! How do you feel?"

"Uh …" the moment she opened her mouth, everyone silenced and waited for her response, she chuckled nervously and fluttered her eyes innocently. Using her sorceress charms – literally – to take over the crowd, "… like nothing I've ever felt before, this is all so new to me. I just thought I'd receive a letter in the mail and told to go here, never did I expect James to come to my place."

Jenny, inside the limo raised an impressed brow, "Oh … she's good … work that smile baby."

"Ms. Roth! Ms. Roth! Why did you enter the contest?"

Jenny went stark white, "Oh please don't fuck it up."

Rae shrugged, her smile still dazzling the crowd, "Oh, I felt spontaneous at the moment, you never know right?"

"Obviously she does know," James smirked, "after all, she won!"

"Ms. Roth! What are your plans for this summer break?"

"To live it up."

That earned her a few lighthearted laughs as James held up Rae's hand and stepped back so she could have her moment of fame. Rae took that moment to spin around and flash a few more smiles, a wink, a peace/victory sign and blew a kiss to the cameras. James held the door to the limo open for her, and with a final wave to the crowd she slipped in with James coming in after her after a final bow. Closing the door, he motioned for the driver to leave and Rae huffed, emotionally drained. Leaning on the door furthest from James she tried not to look out the window at the many flashing lights that splotted her vision.

With Jenny sitting across from her, Rae looked at her and sneered when she grinned in amusement, "Well … if I didn't know any better, I could have swore you've done that before."

James smirked comfortably in his chair he stared at the now indifferent and passive Rae who scoffed, "Manipulating a crowd doesn't take much more then a smile."

"And you had one helluva smile," Rae eyed James cautiously when he scooted closer to her and placed an arm behind her, resting on the seat. His amber eyes gleaming suggestively as he raised his other hand and hooked it under her chin, bringing her face closer to his, "I bet you're real excited for the coming weeks ahead of you."

Rae blinked slowly, then moved her head from his grasp and turned away from him with a roll of her eyes, "Don't flatter yourself, I'm just here for the free stuff."

James chuckled and Rae gritted her teeth when he whispered in her ear and purposefully breathed on her flesh to give her goose-bumps, "So why don't I believe that?"

Rae swallowed her pride, and the urge to send him flying out of a moving vehicle, turning around to look him dead in the eye, brushing her blue-black locks against his dark brown bangs. Trying to see into his soul, into his world, to get into his head before he crawled under her skin, just so she could have a one-up with her jailer. Rae suppressed any emotion to give away her disappointment – and suspicion – when she was blocked. Of course she wasn't trying to read his mind or anything psychic, she just wanted to know how much of her patience tank this bastard would use up before the needle hit the red and she just _had _to kill him.

Blocked …

And masked … Rae opened her mouth, and allowed for a tiny smirk to show at the corner of her lips – just for show of course, "Who said you had to believe in anything?"

Jenny sat back; completely passive with a hint of interest and amusement in her pink eyes as she watched Rae and James … it was like seeing two blind-men pillow fighting in the middle of the night. Awkward and teeth clenching, yet at the same time so funny it was considered a sin. James opened his mouth to respond, but just then, the limo stopped, and Rae pulled away to glare out the window when another chauffeur came around her side of the limo and opened her door, "What's going on?"

James looked at his watch, "I'm late for my appointment, that's what's going on."

Rae shot him an irritated glare, "But that doesn't explain why it looks like I'm being forced out of this limo."

"Oh," James grinned and winked at her, "that's simple; I need it to _get _to my appointment which doesn't allow little girls in the mix, so run along now and I'll meet you at the Villa."

"Wha – ! Wait a minute! I thought I was supposed to follow you where ever you went?"

"I suppose you didn't read the fine print, the contract is not active until twenty-four hours of its signing and I got twenty more hours and 30 minutes to spare for myself. So, see ya!"

Rae practically stumbled out of the vehicle, but caught herself before she fell on her ass, glaring in disbelief, she watched Jenny come out to follow after her. Casually dusting off her suit, she turned and grabbed the door of the limo, leaning in to address her boss, leaving Rae completely out of the loop as Jenny finally stood up and had the chauffeur shut the door. Holding her briefcase, Jenny lead Rae to the second limo parked just in front of the first – said first having drove away after they got out.

Their chauffeur opened their door for them and Jinx slid in, waiting for the stunned and agitated Raven to come in after her. Rolling up the privacy window to cut the driver off from the back seat, Raven scowled, "Can he do that?"

Jinx blinked her pink eyes as she proceeded to lift her hair up into her trademark pigtails, "What? Throw us out of the car? Yeah."

Raven's glare darkened, "No, I meant the contract, is he right about it?"

Jinx reached into her briefcase and handed her back her contract, "If you want to get anywhere with James, you gotta read the fine print, applies to all of the business world and Hollywood in general. I thought Robin told you to always be on guard?"

"…" Raven eyed Jinx warily, her glare falling from her face, "… So you're in on my assignment?"

"Robin said that if I helped you out, I can become a full blown Titan and my record wiped clean," Jinx smirked, "but other then that, I am legitimately James's publicist. My mother and father were the same so I know more about the _'inside'_ then you think."

_That would explain a lot, _Raven thought to herself, but wasn't yet convinced, "So why doesn't Robin use you as the worm instead of me?"

"Because I just said, I'm a legitimate publicist, anything that I give to Robin without a court order would be breeching my clients' rights and I could very well go to jail. Not that I'm afraid of it or anything, I'm just working to get my life straightened ya know."

Then it clicked, "… Robin rigged the contest for me to win … didn't he?"

Jinx shrugged innocently, "Let's just say that James already had it rigged before Robin made it specific."

"… Really?"

"Yep, James was the one who wrote out the contract, everything in there gives him a loophole and leaves you no choice but to follow, otherwise if you don't follow what is required of you, then the contract will be null-n-void and you're entitled to nothing."

Raven threw the contract to the limo ground, and threw herself against the leather seat, grabbing her hair and pulling, about ready to scream, she growled, "This is ridiculous! If you know so much about this life why can't you just tell me who Red X is and we'll get this over with!"

Jinx chuckled and picked the contract off the ground, "Trust me Raven, I'd tell you if I knew myself."

"… Would you?" Raven sarcastically muttered, never actually looking for a reply, lucky, considering Jinx couldn't give one.

**--**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Teen Titans, never had never will.**

**A/N: YAH!! I luv you all for your kind words, nice to know I'm luved somewhere, anyway, that was chapter two … a bit of a slow start, but trust me, it'll pick up soon enough. Remember, the more reviews I get the more guarantee I'll update faster.**

**L8er daez**


	3. As Disasters Go

**Famous for Being Famous**

**As Disasters Go**

"_Ms. Roth! What are your plans for the next summer?"_

"_To live it up."_

"_There you have it ladies and gentlemen," _said the news reporter for channel 5, her permanent smile and pressed suit and perfect hair, she nodded to everyone watching, _"the final word of the lucky Ms. Rae Roth … what's more to come for this Cinderella story? We'll see what's instore for these two later on this summer. Now we go to Mike for the weather, Mike."_

Robin turned the TV off, and Beast Boy chuckled in utter disbelief with a shake of his head, "Wow … she's good."

Starfire squealed, "I still find it oh so hard to believe that our friend Raven is on an assignment with James Jax! It's almost … almost … like a fairytale …"

She swooned and spun in mid-air before falling back to the couch dizzy from cloud nine, Cyborg snickered and shrugged, "Well, I'll be the first to say, I honestly thought Raven wasn't up for this, but … I guess she can handle herself quite well, but, do you really thing this'll work?"

Robin, with a deep thoughtful expression on his masked face glanced at his large friend, then shrugged, "We're playing it by ear … I let it slip that a Titan was going undercover to look for X … didn't say where, when, or how. If X happens to catch wind that he's being played, I'm hoping that he'll panic enough to slip up and give us a lead."

Cyborg eyed his leader uneasily, "That's a big gamble … for all we know he's long gone."

"No, he's not," Robin walked up to the computer counsel and accessed his updated data on the thief, pulling up what he found he explained, "I took a closer look at that note telling us that X goes to Ocean View Academy, and it wasn't done by any _'Good Samaritan'._ This person wants X, _exed_. And they are going through the Titans to get rid of him."

"Let me guess, X didn't kill the girl."

"Nope."

Beast Boy scoffed, with a relieved smiled, "I knew it! It's a set up!"

Robin gave Beast Boy a pointed look, not at all liking the idea that one of his own was actually taking the thief's side on the murder … however, deep down in the pit of his gut he'll admit to himself and only himself that he had hope X wasn't a killer. He couldn't explain it, why he was siding with the thief as well … but hell, all the evidence didn't make sense to begin with. Turning away from the nervous changeling, Robin sighed, "Anyway, I figured that if we play by the mystery killer's game we can be able to catch both X and the murder."

"…" Cyborg frowned, "So we're dangling Raven … as bait?"

"…" Robin hated to use that word, but he shrugged, "She knows the dangers, and is fully aware and prepared for anything."

"Oh, I'm not worried, I know our girl can handle herself, but it's where we decided to send her. Why into Tensile-Town? Of _all _places, wouldn't that be the last place to look for X?"

Robin nodded, "I thought of that myself … but … if you think about it, and put yourself in X's shoes, where an enemy knows his identity. He has to stay alive long enough to figure out the plot behind his demise and find away to keep the guillotine from falling. What better way to stay alive, then to stay in the lime-light where all eyes are on you, making it impossible for anyone to kill you without a huge investigation following your death."

Beast Boy blinked, "Whoa … that's … smart … and complicated … is X that smart?"

Robin shrugged.

"He has to be careful as well," Robin smirked, "a shaky plan like that could backfire, that's why it's good to have a few friends at your side to help you pull off the illusion of the century, and with enough probing, someone's bound to sing."

The changeling snorted, "I suddenly don't feel too hot for Raven, good luck finding secrets in Hollywood, that place is locked down tighter then the CIA on a good day."

--

"Well … here we are …"

"Where is here?"

"The Villa … our home for the next summer vay-kay," Jinx smiled and gestured to the grand home that was way on the other side of the bay, perched on a hill, and hidden within a grove of trees, nestled and cozy. Plantation style with four large pillars lining the large porch, and pure white with a blackish/grayish roof top and trimmings. About three stories high, with a romantic warm feeling to set any girls' heart a flutter.

It was a typical fantasy feeling.

Cinderella story … Raven was not impressed, "You mean hell for the next summer …"

Jinx glanced at her fellow sorceress and chuckled, "Take your own advice _Rae_ and live it up, just because you're on the job doesn't necessarily mean you have to be uptight about it. Who knows, you play your cards right and you'll have James eating out of the palm of your hands."

Raven cast a dry look in Jinx's direction as the limo pulled up to the gate and they drove down the long stretched out driveway into the Villa grounds, "If there is anything I want for that airhead to do, is for him to stay out of my way so I can do my business."

"Yeah … business …" the door opened, and their chauffeur ushered them out of the car, Jinx stepped out first, and then Raven, both of them taking deep breaths and smelling the familiar scent of ocean not far in the distance. Just a walk away within the grounds, Jinx looked back at Raven and jerked her head to the steps. Raven followed side by side with her hostess as the pink sorceress quietly asked, "… you know … out of professional courtesy, you could at least trust me … we could be friends …"

Raven raised a brow, the both of them stopped at the door facing one another, "Is this the part where I tell you that I have enough friends?"

Jinx smirked, "No, this is the part were you agree and we start a new friendship right here and now."

"We'll see," Raven turned away from her, signaling the end of conversation, Jinx frowned, put out by being shot down. She huffed, grabbed both the door handles and yanked the doors opened, then stepped aside to allow Raven entrance.

Raven observed her surroundings and took in the shuffling maids that took care of the house. Stepping onto the marbled floor, and walking to the center of the main entrance hall, she looked up and noticed the grand Spanish steps spiraled against the circular wall straight to the top. Peering straight to the glass dome roof, Raven looked away before she got dizzy and glanced to her right finding the living room, parlor, then looked to her left and spotted the kitchen and dinning hall.

Everything screamed dream-come-true.

She turned to face Jinx who closed the doors and shrugged with a sly grin, "Nice huh … every room is interconnected down here. There's at least four rooms on the second floor, and the third floor is the master suite, you know, James's personal floor with his office, library, and study."

Raven looked up to the dome ceiling again and asked, "Let me guess, I'm not allowed up there."

Jinx scoffed, "Oh, no, you're allowed, but good luck getting in any of the doors, James keeps all the doors locked; you'll need a master key to get in."

Amethyst blue eyes looked at Jinx, "… I don't suppose you have that key."

Pink hues glimmered under the glass ceiling as the sun hit her just right, digging into her right pocket she pulled out the golden old-fashion key ring, with an intricate designed two prong key on said ring. Dangling it in front of Raven, Jinx giggled, "You bet your sweet ass I have that key … and unless you ask nicely, I'll give it to you."

Raven nodded, "When the time comes."

Jinx put the key away and looked around, "Okay then, on with the tour," gesturing to the stairs she lead Raven to the second floor, "since you'll be taken out of your world for a good summer and thrust into luxury I might as well introduce you to the house man-servant and butler, Mr. Ithan Hedrick, Hedrick!"

Leaning over the rail after reaching the second floor, Jinx screamed down to the first floor, Raven looked over and spotted an elderly man that scuttled into their view. He looked up and straightened out his glasses and glared at Jinx, "Ms. Seth, really, is all that hollering really necessary? My sight may be going, but I still have my hearing."

"Just trying to get your attention Hedrick," Jinx dismissed him and motioned for Raven to turn and realize that they were standing right in front of a hallway. Not that long, but long enough with a church window at the end. To either side were doors, each leading to a corner room, "for every two rooms is one bath room to share, so lucky for you and me, we'll be the only ones occupying the second floor."

Raven hardly cared, for when she looked up the stairs she noticed something strange … sure there was a third floor, but when she looked closer the steps continued to spiral … all the way to what looked like a fourth floor. Jinx followed her gaze, and glanced at Raven when the sorceress asked, "Is that an attic?"

Jinx looked back up, and shrugged dismissively, "Maybe … I don't know, I've only been in this place once, and that was just to help James pick out a place to properly carry out this crazy publicity stunt."

"… Right …" Raven let the subject drop – for now – and followed Jinx as she furthermore introduced her to her new home.

Jinx lead her down the hall and turned to the right, "This will be your room, mine's is right across from yours, so if you ever need anything, just holler."

Raven stood in the middle of the hall, just staring at the windows, analyzing it, she casually strolled up to the stain-glass and reached up a hand to touch it. The glass rippled under her touch, and she looked over her shoulder at Jinx, "A force shield …? You expecting some kind of attack on this place?"

"We're UC Titans right?" Jinx shrugged and leaned against the wall, "Just some extra precaution … Robin informed me that he went to the press and announced that one of our own is working on the down low. Hoping to shake things up a bit, ya know?"

"…" Raven nodded, then walked to her room, grabbed the lever-handle and pushed down, then pushed through. Jinx stood behind her as she entered her new room with a marvelous view of Jump City Bay and Titan Tower and a balcony that seemed to stretch around the entire length if the second floor. The rest of the room was fairly large, with bay-windows, a cozy circular bed plotted to her right, a night-stand on either side. Porcelain-white, and dark-yellow-rotted-gold mixed with a little blush-rose-red colored the room here and there.

Very … _feminine, _a little too much for Raven's like, but it'll have to do for now … even the suitcases she packed when Jinx arrived at her home teaching her the tricks of the trade were already stationed in the middle of the room. Ready for her to unpack and settle … Raven smoothed back her blue-black hair and sighed heavily as Jinx walked in with her. Hands on her hips she admired the room and giggled, "Nice, huh? This room was entirely James's idea."

Raven narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "Why?"

She pointed to the view, to Titan Tower, "He thought it'll make the contestant winner feel safer."

"It's going to take more than a view to truly make me feel safe."

"Aw, come on, give'im a little credit, he was at least thinking of your well being! Seriously, I don't see why you're being pouty! This is a rare moment in your life and you keep trying to find reasons to hate it … you know, _'high paid show ponies'_ are humans to."

"True … but I'm not truly human now am I?" Raven retorted as she reached down to pick up one of her suitcases, tossing it onto the bed she opened it and began to put things in their places. Assuming the room she was in had a bookshelf, of course, but apparently with a second glance … it didn't. She huffed in annoyance, and just stacked her books on one of the night stands.

Jinx sighed and marched into the large room to plop down on the sofa posted near the window, crossing her legs she smirked at Raven when a thought suddenly struck her, "Oh, and by the way … don't get too comfy yet, James has to take you to a public outing."

Raven froze and looked over her shoulder at the smug little publicist, "What outing?"

"You won a contest, James has to show you off, you know, get you acquainted with the world of glitz-and-glam, and get you some much needed peer attention. Also, we're going to a meeting with a producer, to see if it's time to get James into the singing career. I mean, he _is THAT_ popular. Busy, busy schedule … also! His birthday is coming up … and you know what that means …"

"…" Raven's mouth had cracked open in disbelief as Jinx rattled off their schedule for the day … er, approaching evening. Never mind the fact that James was going to have a birthday; she could give a rats-ass. She shook her head and glared, "I thought you said the contract gave him and I some freedom from each other for twenty-four hours?"

"I did say that, but I'm also a publicist as well as his assistant who manages _everything_ … including wardrobe, and parties. I need to keep up his appearance."

"…"

"Yeah, it's a full time job."

Raven slowly shook her head, "And then you wonder why Robin doubts your ability as a Titan."

"Hey, if there is anything he can count on, is my dedication to the job."

"So that's what being a Titan is to you? A job? Just a reminder, you don't get paid for being a hero."

"Oh, I know …" Jinx shrugged and gazed off into the view of the bay at Titan Tower, "… I don't even expect anyone to like me … that'll be asking to much, ya know?"

Raven turned away from her and folded up her clothes into a drawer, not answering, but allowing her somewhat relaxed aura to flow into the room. Letting Jinx know that she understood her … it made Jinx smile a tiny smile at the corner of her trademark smirk. Maybe it wasn't such a discouraging thing to hope that maybe, just maybe they could be friends. Jinx huffed and stood up, "Well, I have to go get ready, and you should to! James will be here any moment, and no one he is associated with will be seen wearing the same clothes twice in two sightings."

Raven rolled her eyes, and scoffed sarcastically, "Any advice on the latest trend?"

"Oh, anything you want, I'm scheduling James to take you on a luxury shopping spree, all day spa, mani-pedi treatment, and … well … you get the idea …"

She knew her game, "So I'm the ugly duckling that he's going to turn into an attractive swan?"

"Not just a swan, _Rae, _but a drop dead gorgeous bombshell hottie! You'll be looking like you actually belong in his world."

"_Thrilled,"_ Raven growled.

Jinx giggled, and winked out of the room, "See ya in a few, and make sure you wear something … mmm … light, loose, and sexy, you got a long night a head of you."

--

Evening was approaching fast, and for the thief, who actually preferred the night, was beginning to dread it, because it meant he was going to be late for another appointment. That stupid publicity stunt Jenny/Jinx decided to throw on him, granted the idea wasn't hers, but what was originally a joke among friends, turned into a realistic Masquerade Ball. Now, not only does he have to keep up his public appearance, at the same time keep his personal – and dangerous – life out of the public knowledge. He had to play house with some stupid girl that could more or less be the death of him.

Patiently – or rather, portraying the image of patience – Red X, in full body uniform leaned against one of the empty, rusting, steel drum barrels abandoned within a aircraft hanger. No plane in sight, and no a single client either … X huffed impatiently, he understood the fact that evil never sleeps, but damn it do they take forever to get to one place. The thief, out of habit reached up a hand to smooth back his hair, but remembered he had his mask on and ended up rubbing the top of his head. Tapping his foot impatiently against the ground, he decided to wait another five minutes, and if the client did show, he was taking his business elsewhere.

Lord knew he had better – strike that – _other _things to do.

Hanging out with a little girl didn't seem like something better to take care of.

X counted down the minutes … tick, tock, tick, tock … becoming restless, he huffed again and cut the five minutes down to three, than to two, and now he was out of there, _Fuck it … _he thought with an irritated growl. Like it or not, he had a schedule to keep as well.

Stomping his feet, he marched to the exit, ticked, and agitated.

All his work, wasted for nothing.

Or … maybe not …

Just as he reached the exit, he froze in mid-step as the hanger opened, and much to his interest the client – or client_s_ – stood in a perfect line waiting for their entrance.

X counted them up, _There should be five bidders … one … two … three … four … four? Where's the other I wonder …? _He honestly didn't care; it probably meant that one of the four were playing dirty. He had his money on the young lady standing next to who appeared to either be her father or older brother, because they had the same eyes and same hair, forest green. They both looked the type to kill for what they want. X spun around and propped a fist on his hip, "You know … timing is everything, you all almost lucked out, I was just about to take my business elsewhere."

A hot-shot multi-billion dollar player with the flamboyant sense of style – tacky to – sneered, "X, baby, at least we're all fashionably late."

X snorted, "Coming from you? I'm glad I showed up early."

The hot-shot shut his mouth from there on, and the girl with her father – or brother – stepped up and nabbed the floor in the middle of the silence, "You have the ring?"

"Yeah … you got the money?"

"Of course."

X glanced at all the other clients and they nodded their heads, the thief smirked, "Excellent … so let's make this quick, I don't got all day. The one that brought the largest amount wins. You got a problem with that, take it up with your other competitors, I'm just the delivery boy. Ready?"

A client from the far right, old guy with glasses, hunched over his cane eyed X like he was stabbing him to death with but a glare, "Hold on a moment … I heard there was to be five bidders … why only four show?"

X shrugged, "You tell me old man …"

The next client, on the far left scoffed, though with his weight, X amused that he snorted, "I heard he dropped out of the race … afraid of getting caught."

The girl rolled her eyes, "Coward."

The hot-shot snickered, "Getting caught, is that cat for real?"

The fat-man smirked, "Hey, to admit the truth, I'm a bit concerned as well … I mean, have you heard the news about our _'delivery boy'_? The police are investigating him for the death of that one museum-girl that got in his way to steal our ring …"

X frowned when all his clients turned to him in suspicion, "I was set up. I never killed that girl."

"That's not what the media says," the fat-mans smirk turned into a grin, "the press is having a field day, they want your ass in jail … and rumor has it that the Titans possibly know who you really are and have sent in an agent to fish you out. You know those Titans … they haven't yet let the city down …"

X didn't like where this was going, his clients were now hesitant to give up their money, afraid to be linked with him, he had to convince them otherwise, or else he was stuck with hot-loot. "Look, they're all rumors, the Titans don't know jack-shit … and I did _not _kill that girl."

The old man frowned, "That may be true, but I cannot risk it … I'm dropping out. Good-luck with your investigation."

The girl was stubborn, she didn't want to chicken out, but her father – or brother – put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head, she scowled at him, but other than that. She followed him as he turned his back and left, the hot-shot thought about it for a moment, and shrugged, "Sorry … but the old-mans right … you're too dangerous right now X, better lay low and stay low for a while."

The fat-man chuckled and shook his head, "Better luck next time X … good-luck …"

Just like that … they all left … right before X's eyes, they turned their backs and left!

He didn't know whether to be pissed or worried … so he settled on being perplexed, and dumbfounded. Really? Honestly? Did that really just happen? Was he turned down for the sake of a rumor, a bloody media free-for-all? He felt himself grinding his teeth, clenching his fists and scowling, forget being worried, or perplexed, or dumbfounded … he'll settled on being pissed off.

Whoever thought it was funny to go posing as him and killing innocent people, was about to find out just what happens when they screw with a thief's earnings and reputation. Particularly with Red X … usually laid-back, cool-headed, and amused at life in general … he also had a fast temper, which was usually easily squashed in an hour or so _(usually)._

X grunted, seeing no choice, he left the premises.

In no mood to deal with life right now, he groaned in irritation when he remembered he still had a fan-girl sitting in wait at the Villa.

Great, just great, now how was he supposed to portray the kind-heated celebrity when he was mad as hell?

He sighed heavily, and gathered his anger together and tucked it away in his little side pocket.

He was Red X the cool level-headed thief who always knew the right moves to make.

He was James Jax the hottest thing to date.

He can pretty much do anything.

--

Jinx, decked out in a loose, white mini skirt a brown off the shoulder peasant blouse, paced Raven's room in her five hundred forty-five dollar Manolo Blahnik heels. Her excessive accessories chiming right along with her clicking heels, almost sounded melodic, but then again Raven could just be bored out of her mind since she's been waiting for this James to return for an entire hour. Sitting on her fluffy bed, leaning back and staring up at the ceiling, she suppressed a chill when the cold air kissed the skin of her abdomen.

Though she was wearing a long sleeved skin tight blouse, it was more for show than practical. That along with her black slacks and her trademark gold belt … but with a dark blue and silver twist, she looked down when she heard Jinx growl, "Ooo … where is that little – he's late!"

Raven arched a brow, "I'm guessing he's done this before?"

Jinx scoffed, "No, he usually has impeccable timing …" she stopped her pacing and glanced out the window so Raven didn't see that concern on her face, _I wonder if something happened …_

Then, there was a knock on the door, Jinx rushed to it, and jerked it open, Raven, with a deadpanned look on her face turned her eyes upward when James stood at the door holding two bouquets of flowers of all sorts, "Hey, miss me?"

He gave her a bouquet, she took it and glared at it, then at James who invited himself in, "Wha – where were you?"

"Busy," he answered with a shrug as he approached the rather blasé _'Rae'_, bowed and offered her the second bouquet, "and for the winner … ready to have a little fun?"

Rae eyed the bouquet, then the one holding it, and with a sneer she took it and placed it on her bed without a second glance, "What happened to the twenty-four hour rule? Did I miss something?"

"Don't take things so literal," he smirked and winked, "this is showbiz, you improvise, besides. One of my many pet-peeves are leaving a couple of beautiful ladies at home when they should be out and about having the times of their lives."

"Aren't you chivalrous," Rae suppressed the urge to roll her eyes as she got up from her bed. Not at all bothered by James's close proximity – she could practically feel him breathing on her – she pushed him back to give her some breathing air and sauntered towards Jenny. After all, _'Rae' _didn't very much care for what others thought about her. She goes where ever the wind takes her, never skips a beat, and didn't care about the world, only about the now, which sinuated that blasé attitude of hers that could rival James's.

The popular mega-star watched her with an interested grin and chuckled, following her out the door right along with Jenny. The three of them headed for the stairs, James, cracking the bones of his fingers by interlocking them and stretching them out, asked, "So, Jen, what's on the schedule for tonight?"

With that trademark catty grin of hers, the publicist giggled and practically skipped down the stairs in glee, "Plenty James, _plenty."_

James smirked, "Oh, goody. With you Jen, it's never a dull night."

Rae could only narrow her eyes in suspicion as she followed the two crazys out the door into the awaiting limo parked out front to chauffer them anywhere to their hearts content.

Raven could only dream the limo take her back home, because lord knows if she didn't find Red X, or his framer soon, she'd likely kill herself after she murdered her friends for setting her up.

**--**

**Disclaimer: You know I don't own the Teen Titans, DC does :P.**

**A/N: And the story goes on, poor, poor Raven already considering suicide, lol, I guess after the next chapter she's gonna wanna string herself up right quick, so go a head an gimme your feedback and I'll see if I can cook up the next chapter soon enough for ya'll. Luv'yaz!!!**

**L8er daez**


	4. Devil's Charm

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Devil's Charm**

"This is a public outing?" Rae glanced out of the limo's tinted windows to see the shiny flashy lights of Jump City's hottest strip, Treasure Boulevard. Where nothing short of infamous debauchery took place, Vegas, had nothing on Treasure. Rae shot Jenny a dirty look, and the publicist who was fixing her make up glanced at her and fringed innocent.

She snapped her power-case shut and put it in her purse then sat back, "Aw, come on, you never been to the boulevard before, this should be fun."

"…" Rae huffed, crossing her legs, she leaned on the door of the limo and propped her chin on her fist watching the world go by. To many, she looked bored, but in actuality, she was seething mad … no amount of words could express how utterly pissed off she felt about going on this ridiculous mission. Speaking of mission … she closed her eyes, sighed, and decided that since they were stuck in this car, she might as well get to investigating, _James goes to Ocean View … they get out for summer later than the other schools in Jump, hmm … _she glanced.

James turned to her and smiled … well, actually he smirked, "I'm guessing you don't get out much?"

"No," she responded without hesitation, "but … aren't you supposed to be in school?"

James blinked and pulled his head back, "What? Why would you ask something like that?"

"… You look … like someone that goes to a ritzy school, like Ocean View … and don't they get out later than all the others?"

"Ocean View? Yeah I go there," James shrugged, "but I got a busy schedule, unlike the other kids there that live on mommy and daddy's AmEx, I earn my dough."

Rae sneered, "You don't have a mommy or daddy to pamper you?"

James grinned maliciously, closing his eyes and bowing his head he chuckled darkly, and shrugged, "What can I say, I'm an independent guy."

Jenny giggled, "What he means to say is, he's on good terms with the principal so he can pretty much get away with a lot of things … like skipping out of school early. He took his exams early, got his projects early, and well … finished early."

James nodded, "It's all about who you know."

Rae marinated on that thought for a second, then nodded, _So … he finished early huh … _she tilted her head, "How early did you get out?"

Jenny frowned, James, oblivious, shrugged, "Three months early."

"Lucky," Rae scoffed, fringing jealousy; she turned away so he couldn't see her brow arched a fraction of an inch, _How curious, that's at exactly the same time that man's daughter died. _The car was coming to a stop; she looked up and noticed that they had stopped before the hottest night club in the world – currently – the Stardust Lounge. It was a twenty-one and older establishment, she frowned, "Are we even allowed in there?"

James grinned, "I am, but Jen's gonna sneak you in the back way, don't worry, it's a routine thing."

Rae looked at Jenny, "I'm not sure I like this idea … I'm only seventeen."

Jenny rolled her eyes, "Please, Lindsey Lohan was sneaking into clubs _way _younger than you."

The chauffer to their limo got out and went around to James's side; he took a hold of the handle and opened it. Jenny quickly grabbed Rae so she wasn't seen by the cameras that went flashing or the people behind said cameras looking for a shot at the mega star. James put on his best smile and stepped out, greeting the paparazzi like he was the king of the world while following the bouncers that helped him into the building. The chauffer reentered the car and Jenny instructed him to go around the long way in case anyone was following them.

Raven sat in her chair pouting, "I really don't like this …"

Jinx winked, "Think of it this way, it's a way to expand your horizons, you know, see how the other half lives."

"I could careless," Raven scoffed and with a twirl of her finger she pressed the button to rise up the privacy divider from the driver to the back. Jinx looked behind her and watched the soundproof black tint shield go up, then turned back to Raven. The titan unscrewed one of the many jewels on her silver belt, flipped it over and flipped open her vibrating t-com.

Robin came on line, _"I called twice, what took you?"_

Jinx bowed her head and took a deep breath, a not-so-happy look on her face as Raven flicked back a clutch of her hair and responded in monotone, "James was still in the car."

"_Car? Where are you now? Aren't you supposed to be at the Villa getting settled?"_

"That was the plan, but … something came up," Raven stared at Jinx for a moment, the pink-eyed sorceress shrugged innocently, masking her discomfort with a sneaky smile.

Raven could feel Robin's brow shoot up into his forehead, _"What came up?"_

"Nothing important apparently, but I'm turning on my tracker so you'll know where I am."

"_Why can't you just tell me?"_

"Because, the very thought of the name churns my stomach, if I say it out loud, I'm afraid to throw out the contents of my gut all over the limo floor. Something I can't afford to repair …"

"_Raven …"_

"Treasure Boulevard, Robin."

"_Treasure – Raven! That's … that's a –"_

"I know. Raven out."

"_Wha – no! Wai –"_

Raven hung up and screwed the communicator back onto her belt; Jinx blinked slowly and maintained her sly smile, "Nice belt … I should get me one of those."

"It's not a fashion statement," Raven retorted and sighed as the limo pulled up behind Stardust and through the gates where the paparazzi were not allowed to cross. Two big bouncers stood on either side of the rusted steel doors; one of them went to the door and opened it, holding his hand out for Jinx to take and helped her out.

Jinx smiled at him, "Thanks hun." With that she sauntered her way to the door, where she stated her party to the second bouncer, "We're with James."

He nodded and watched Raven come out of the car, his eyes widening, "Hey … isn't that the contestant winner?"

Jinx glanced back at Raven; the Titan, in all her enchanted glory smoothed back her silky raven locks, and narrowed her piercing indigo eyes. With every step she took her hips swayed with a hypnotic rhythm, honestly with the right trick of the light she looked unreal, inhuman. Then again, creatures like Raven can mimic humanity close to perfection, but they can never do it perfectly. There was always that little _feeling, _that _vibe; _mortals get around her no matter what form she took. The vibe that there was something … _different _about her … and this difference, depending on the mortal, would either repeal, or attract them to her.

The bouncer was obviously the later.

Jinx giggled at the irony: an undercover Titan that doesn't want attention, yet attracts so much of it. She patted the bouncer's shoulder, and whispered in a sing-song voice, "Easy boy, she belongs to James …"

The bouncer shot her an amused look, but shook his head and chuckled under his breath as he allowed both her and Raven to enter, Raven having seen the interaction glanced at Jinx quizzically, "You know him?"

She shook her head and shrugged, "Never met him before in my life. Anyway! Once we get in, stick close to me, and remember, you're an average girl, that's lived an average life so try to look surprised."

Raven rolled her eyes; the bass of the loud music sending tingling pulses through her veins, a chill raced up and down her spine. Her demon blood awakening to the primal scents she was picking up from behind the swinging doors just a hallway down. True, she mediates to suppress that side of her, but there are just some things she can't hold back, like her naturally heightened senses. She held her breath for three seconds and braced herself, "Let's just get this over with."

Jinx shrugged, "As your lady commands it, so it shall be done," with that grin permanently melded onto her doll face Jinx put a hand on the door and pushed it wide open.

There was a blast of heat, insanely loud music, and bodies, and bodies of club-goers packed the floor, even the booths. Everywhere Rae and Jenny turned there was always someone there grinding to the music, or trying to chat above the thumping bass. It was impossible for Rae to move without bumping into someone, and even then, those people didn't care. Lost in their own little world, hyped on either alcohol or … _something else._

Rae had to swallow the urge to take flight and leave.

Maybe sink into the ground and just quit.

She thought that warehouse Blackfire took her and her team to was dark and forbidding, this place made that look like a five-year-old's birthday party.

Rae bumped into another body, and scowled, the air to breath was no where to be inhaled and she was getting sick of running into everybody. That's when someone grabbed her wrist and yanked her to them; Rae, on instinct powered one of her fists, but hid the black aura encasing it as she glared at the unlucky-bastard who dared to touch her. It turned out to be just Jenny making sure Rae was keeping up with her.

Over the music she screamed, "Stay close. This place gets pretty wild!"

That was an understatement.

Jenny dragged Rae through a maze of interconnected booths that were nothing more than steps with cushions; Rae had to wonder how Jenny kept her balance with high heels when she herself was having trouble keeping her feet from wobbling. Coming close to a few ankle-sprains, Rae was grateful when they touched solid ground again, but groaned when Jenny lead her to another set of steps.

However this one was different.

The lighting all around was red, the seats were white leather, and the center table was a beautiful stain-glass of a peacock with a wide-spread starry-tail.

Here, the cream of the crop all sat in the round room conversing with themselves and enjoying the luxury of the VIP lounge.

James was at the center of all the attention, his already stunning good-looks, and enigmatic smirk emphasized through the glowing red lights. Rae couldn't lie, he looked good, like he belonged. Jenny finally released her hand and held out her arms to announce her presences, "Now I'm mad, James, you started the party without me!"

James looked up at her and snickered, "Don't blame me cuz' you took so long, I had to take care of Geoffrey without you."

Jenny tilted her head and without much thought she shoved one of the girls on James's arm away so she could sit beside him. The girl growled, "Watch it bitch! That's my spot!"

"Business," Jenny sneered, "go suck someone else rod, you're barkin' up the wrong tree butch."

The girl scowled, but said nothing further and marched out of the room, James rolled his eyes and smoothed back his hair when the other girl on his other arm marched out with her apparently they were sisters. James glared at Jenny, "Do you mind? I would like to have a little _fun_ every now and then."

Jenny waved his comment off, "You can get so much better, anyway, what did Geoffrey say? You get signed?"

James huffed tiredly, "No."

"Wha –! Why? I could have swore you had this in the bag –"

"I turned him down Jen."

"… Why? This would have shot you straight into –"

"I'm not looking for fame … if anything the damn thing found me …" James leaned his head back against the wall of the booth and closed his eyes, exhaustion evident on his young face. Rae, with her sensitive hearing caught every word out of his mouth and though to others, it may have been a sign that James might actually have a soul. She wasn't here to care.

Still standing at the entrance into the VIP, Rae observed and looked around when she noticed people were starting to stare at her quizzically. Their curiosity, suspicion, and conversation all suddenly started to center around her, she chewed on her lower lip then moved to join James and Jenny before she was kicked out.

That is, until someone stopped her, a tap on her shoulder, Rae looked to her right and narrowed her eyes on the bird-like man with a large nose, and a condescending gaze in his equally narrowed eyes. Rae fixed her mouth into a fine line when he blinked and tilted his head, asking point blank, "Who are you?"

Rae sneered, "Who needs to know?"

He put a hand under his pointed chin, "Mm … attitude … I like it … can you turn around for me?"

Rae moved away from him and crossed her arms over her chest, "I can … doesn't mean I will."

He nodded and reached a hand out to firmly grasp a hold of her chin and turned her head from side to side. Rae smacked it away aggressively and stepped back, the man didn't even lose his cool, "Yes … yes … you have a magnificent bone structure … nice figure … I'd love to see you walk … can you walk over there and come back?"

"No." Rae gritted her teeth; she opened her mouth to tell the creep to back off only James came to her rescue, sort of.

"Giovanni," James walked up from behind Rae and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, discreetly turning her away so she'd maneuver behind him. Maybe to an average girl it would have seemed like James was just putting an arm around her shoulder, but Rae knew the motion. She didn't fight it and allowed Jenny to take her hand in order to lead her away from the two.

James smiled like he had nothing to hide, and Giovanni returned the gesture, "JJ … didn't know you were acquainted with the young lady … she must be the winner of your little game?"

James nodded, "Actually she is."

Giovanni smiled something wicked, "She looks a bit young to be in such a place."

"Maybe … maybe not … didn't know age mattered."

"To us it doesn't, to society as a whole …" Giovanni let the comment trail as he lifted his drink to his lips and took a sip, his eyes slinking off into the corner where Jenny was pretending to be engrossed in a deep conversation with Rae. Rae wasn't playing along; she turned back to James and caught Giovanni looking at her … it sent uneasy chills down her spine.

Her glares held no candle to his predatorily stare.

He not only wanted her.

He _needed _her.

Jenny put a hand on her shoulder, faking a laugh through a fake smile she explained away, "Don't look, but that's Giovanni Doucette he's a fashion designer, photographer, and owns his own modeling agency. He's worked with a _ton_ of supermodels and is a marketing genius."

Rae faked her own smile and fringed a giggle, "So why the tension?"

Jenny blinked and shrugged, "Because you're undercover right? If Giovanni's interested in you, than it means he's gonna wanna have you all to himself."

"… What kind of crowd does he mingle with?"

"The Untouchables."

"Who?"

"Only the most beautiful, high classed, old money, _extremely _wealthy families … after all, he is old money."

Rae nodded, "I understand you … but what does James have to do with playing the hero?"

"Him?" Jenny smiled in admiration, "Oh, he's a sucker for chivalry, he saw you were bothered with Giovanni's direct approach and decided to step in. Lucky for us, it worked in our favor."

"Ah …" Rae let it go, and looked up when James came walking their way with a thoughtful look on his face, Giovanni had retreated back into his fold and acted as if nothing ever happened. Rae arched a brow when James looked at her, "Something the matter?"

James tilted his head, then grinned, "Everything's just peachy princess."

"Good," Jenny cut in before Rae could dig any further, she grabbed a hold of Rae's hands and dragged her out of the booth, "Now enough talk, let's dance! We're in a frickin' night club for Christ's sake!"

"Huh?!" Rae gasped; nearly tripping over her own two feet as Jenny lead her back out onto the jam-packed dance floor where the music drowned out all sound and darkness reigned supreme. The flashing strobe lights, and dotted laser lights created an overwhelming atmosphere of adrenaline pumping thrills and chills. The music was fast, and Rae chewed on her lower lip in hesitation when Jenny led her to the middle of the dance floor.

Still holding her hand she turned around and pulled Rae close so she wouldn't run, "Come on, relax … nothings gonna happen."

Rae gritted her teeth, and contacted Jenny through the mind, _"The gravity of the situation has yet to bare down on you. I'm here on a mission to look for a killer. Someone ruthless enough to slice an innocent girl's throat without a second thought, and you want me to dance?"_

"_I'm trying to help you!" _Jenny shouted back, insistent and desperate, _"James has connections, a _ton _of'em that you can use without suspicion, _if _you prove to be his type of girl."_

"_Excuse me?"_ Rae arched a brow.

"_Get James to like you and you'll see he'll be more help than an annoyance, I promise. He's an alright guy Raven … you just have to get to know him. Besides, you're trying to blend right? So blend!"_ Rae sighed heavily and rolled her eyes, Jenny grinned maliciously, "Unless you don't know how …"

Rae glared, "I know how … but I just don't want to."

With that Jenny arched her back and threw her hands in the air, rolling her hips against Rae, Rae, though uncomfortable, started to sway her body with Jenny following the up tempo beat. Jenny moved in closer, if that was even possible, and stretched her arms out over Rae's shoulders, unbeknownst to her, Jenny turned up one hand and with her finger beckoned James their way. Though he was happily entertained with a few other ladies, Jenny's temptation was too good to pass up.

Besides … he needed to talk to his little contest winner.

Rae, with her eyes closed chanting her mantra over and over again to eliminate the discomfort she felt with her body being so close to another's, trying not to think about her privacy being violated, and throwing all modesty out the window. She sucked in a deep breath when she felt warm masculine hands rest comfortably on her waist. Her back suddenly pressed up against his firm chest, he moved with her in perfect harmony.

Or … was it she, moving with him setting a slower, sexier pace despite the fast beat.

Rae grinded her teeth finding herself wedged between the publicist and her client, she ran her hands through her hair, lifting it up to cool herself down. Instead, she found chills racing up and down her spine when James spoke into her ear … though with the loud music, it sounded a lot like a whisper, "You enjoying yourself?"

She gulped and tried not to loose rhythm or her mental chant, but with his being all over her it was hard not to even choke on a response. After all, the only guy she's ever been this physically close to was Malchior, and he was a paper-man then, no heat, no flesh-on-flesh. It wasn't the same, so the experience was so new to her, so alien, and forbidden … the demon inside of her liked it, "You can say that."

"Good, you're gonna need this moment to relax, because Giovanni invited us to his place … for an after party."

His hands were all over her, setting her on fire, and driving her crazy with so many crazy thoughts that kept hitting her control center … she was afraid of speaking, least she say something insane. So she nodded her head and placed a hand on Jenny's shoulder to help steady her rhythm, "Mm-hmm …"

"He wants us at a photo shoot tomorrow, he's wondering if you're interested …"

Finally … something she can concentrate on, "A … a photo shoot?"

She gasped when he turned her around to face him, never skipping a beat. They were so close his knee was slipping in between her legs. She clung to his shoulder to hold her up while she leaned back, hoping it'll give her some space, nope, it only made her arch her back and give her demon blood a little more incentive. With one of his bare hands holding onto her bare waist, he said, "He says you got potential, and I gotta agree with him cutie, you got the goods."

Rae bit down on her lower lip, closed her eyes, bowed her head and nodded, though somewhere in the back of her mind told her she should be noticing something. Something important, a clue to her mission, but she was dead set on controlling her demon. She will not let it control her; she will not let her primal senses control her, not now, not ever! Once again too afraid to speak, least she get herself into trouble she responded with a soft, "Mm-hmm …"

Whether or not he heard it, she didn't care, she gritted her teeth and gasped when he took her down low and brought her up with a jerk. He was controlling her, and that did not sit well with her at all, determined to keep up, and set the pace, she found one of her hands sliding up from his shoulder to hook onto the back of his neck. While her other hand found it resting on his broad, hard chest, feeling the muscle she rotated her hips against him, practically forcing him to pay attention to her and only her.

Then he asked another question, as if determined to knock her concentration out of her hands and give him back control, "So what do you say? Wanna try?"

"Sure," she agreed to God knows what, but she needed him to shut up. Between his voice, his body, and his scent, her senses couldn't take anymore of a beating.

Speaking of senses … where was Jenny?

Wasn't she behind her a moment ago?

Rae kicked the thought out of her mind, it didn't matter, what mattered was the here and now, with James, the music, and the nightcap someone had handed to her. Was it Jenny? She wasn't sure, the strobe lights kicked in and darkness reigned supreme. She took a swig of the bitter drink, then handed it to James as the alcohol burned her throat. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she was breaking some law, but to hell with it she was just a Teen Titan, emphasis on the _Teen, _she was allowed some vices.

**--Next Day--**

It just kept ringing.

It wouldn't stop!

Didn't the bastard on the other line know it was too early to answer the damn phone?

It kept ringing that obnoxious ring tone.

Why?

Why did she have to set it to that stupid sound?

Ugh, her head was hurting.

Make it stop, make it go away!

A hand slithered out from under its comfy little cocoon blindly thrashing about, looking for the bloody vibrating, screaming phone, a hoarse groan of annoyance coming from the lump on the bed. She whacked her hand on the nightstand, and finally on the infernal thing that wouldn't shut up, with the victim in hand the arm darted back under the covers. Eyes still closed, she answered the phone, not knowing it was on video, the bright light illuminated her darkness and she yelped in pain, "Ah! Wha-! What's going on?"

"_Raven? It's Robin … are you okay?"_

The voice, he was so damn loud, she growled, baring her fangs, "Shhh! You don't have to shout at me … argh … what do you want?"

She was whispering so low that Robin couldn't hear here, _"Raven … I didn't get that, what?"_

Raven snarled, "I said shut up! Ow … my head …" she gritted her teeth and moaned in pain, dropping the communicator down on the bed, Robin went beat red when he noticed she was in nothing but her black lacy underwear.

Being the gentleman that he was he diverted his eyes, but continued to speak uncomfortably hesitant, _"Uh … Raven … are you … are you having a hangover?"_

"I wouldn't know … never had one before …" she groaned, and hissed when she cracked her eye open and noticed the light from the communicator, the video pointed to her chest. Modesty being the furthest thing from her pounding head, she lifted up the t-com and looked into the screen, though the light was _killing _her.

Robin glanced at the screen to be sure it was safe, when he finally saw her tired, disheveled face right along with her nearly bloodshot eyes, he frowned, _"Raven, what the hell did you do last night?"_

She scowled, "My job …"

"_You're job? And that involves getting plastered?"_

"You wanted me to blend, so I blended, get off my back about it, I didn't even want to take this assignment to begin with. Your damn girlfriend's a fan of James, not me," her head pulsed, she grinded her teeth and finally threw the covers off her head to sit up. So glad that the curtains were drawn from the large window's overlooking Titan Tower. She didn't think she could take the beaming sun right now, darkness was the way to go, it was her preferred setting anyway.

Robin shook his head, disreguarding that last comment, he sighed heavily, _"Are you alright?"_

Raven shot a dirty look into the screen, "I won't honor that question with an answer …" she sighed and smoothed down her tangled messy hair as best as she could while she sat up and leaned against the headboard. Eyes closed she lolled her head back and huffed, "… James got out of school three months early, and he's got close ties with the principal at Ocean View."

"_How close?"_

"The principal is his uncle that he use to live with, James apparently doesn't have a mother or father, they both died in some plane crash about five years ago, so says Jinx, when she lost her sobriety."

"_And you telling me this is going to help us how?"_

"Robin, the girl died three months ago, James got out three months, and at the same time his fame skyrocketed? I don't think so, check the death of his parents, and his entire background to be sure its legit, ask Beast Boy and Star for the information, I'm sure _they'd_ know."

"_Hold on, what are you thinking? That James is the killer? That doesn't make sense … what would he have to gain?"_

Raven huffed, "I don't know Robin, maybe he did it because he thought it was funny, you know, the pressure to be perfect all the time can lead people to do stupid things … _really _stupid things …" she closed her eyes for a moment, then shook her head and got back on track, "Anyway … I just get this feeling he's hiding something …"

"_Alright then, if that's the case I'll call you later when we've found anything."_

"No."

"_What?"_

"You can't call me later, I have an interview with some magazine, and a photo shoots coming up and I don't know how long we're going to take … I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to call you. Besides that, I'm going to try and sneak into James's studies."

"_Why would you have to sneak in?"_

"He keeps the third floor locked down …"

"_Ah … well good luck with that, and keep your tracker on."_

"I will, Raven out."

"_Take care of yourself."_

With that Raven flipped the communicator off and finally glanced at her nightstand clock, eyes widening when she realized it was 10:49 am! She groaned and slapped a hand on her forehead, only to hiss when the pounding headache that was already subsiding came back full force. Gritting her teeth she closed her eyes and chanted her mantra to rise up her powers and dissipate whatever was left of the alcohol to prepare for the day.

**--**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Teen Titans … DC does.**

**A/N: What can I say, I was tempted to do a club-scene, can you blame me? Besides, you all saw it coming! I tried my best not to make it … eh … I don't know … awkward – no, that's not the word … - (shrugs) I don't know the right word to use, but I hope the scene was to your liking, as well as the rest of the chapter.**

**So in closing: Thank you all for your reviews, just keep'em coming and I'll keep updating, because I luv you all that much!! Oh, and if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask … but I'm pretty sure some questions will be answered later on in the story (shrugs) who knows.**

**L8er daez**


	5. Conning the Conman

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Conning the Conman**

"Ugh … remind me never to do shots over at Giovanni's … what the fuck were in those glasses anyway? I feel like someone whacked me on the head with a sledgehammer." James groaned and lay on his bed, he squinted his eyes shut, desperately trying to get his headache under control. Lucky for him, Jinx was with him, sitting right next to him, using her own magic to dispel the hangover and moving on to healing James.

However, unlike Raven, her process took much longer and more energy than her gifted power of bad-luck, how ironic James was lucky enough to have her on his side. Jinx sighed heavily and tiredly when she was done. Throwing herself on his bed and closing her eyes. Her breathing becoming dangerously low and almost nonexistent, James sat up, rejuvenated and glanced down at her, "You alright?"

Jinx nodded weakly, "I'll be … fine … just …" she yawned, "… gimme a minute …"

"Well don't take too long, we got a busy day today."

Jinx groaned, "Ugh … don't remind me, I still haven't talked to Giovanni about Rae's wedges for this photo shoot he wants her in, but, seriously … why her? What makes her so special that he has to have her in a five page spread in the hottest magazine world wide?"

James shrugged, "Hell if I know … G's just weird that way. Thinks everything he does and creates should be placed in some sort of museum dedicated to him."

Jinx scoffed, "He has the money for it." She sighed and sat up slowly, careful with her lightheadedness, "Speaking of money … you never told me how it went down with the bidding … did it go smoothly?"

"…"

"… X?"

"…" X growled and turned away from her, laying on his side and glaring at nothing in particular, almost pouting he said through gritted teeth, "… It didn't happen."

"What?" Jinx blinked and crawled closer to him, looking over his shoulder to try and see his face to no avail his hair guarded his amber eyes, "What happened?"

X sat up and shook his head, "They chickened out all because of the media painting me up to be this psycho-killer that the Titans are trying to crack down on … can you fuckin' believe they sent in an under cover agent to look for me? It's total bullshit! They couldn't find their way out of a paper bag let along find me."

Jinx frowned inwardly and steeled her emotions, masking them so he wouldn't see the knowledge in her eyes as she thought, _Robin's plan's working … X is freaking out._ She chewed on her lower lip … what a dilemma, X was a dear friend, and he really was a nice guy, but she was in the middle of becoming a Titan. She wanted to change her old ways, but she couldn't give up her friends. Not even Gizmo, Mammoth, and all the other Hive members … they were her original family when her biological one kicked her out for being different.

Jinx honestly didn't know it would be this hard to walk the tight rope.

She gulped and played nonchalance, "Well … what are you gonna do about it? Take off? It'll be the _smart_ thing to do, especially since someone appears to have it out for you."

"Run?" he scoffed, "Not a chance."

He got off the bed and headed for his own privet bathroom, Jinx sighed and closed her eyes, sitting up and leaning on the headboard she frowned and chewed on her lower lip, _Hmm … what do I do …? He needs to get out of here … if he stays … well … Raven's not stupid. I'm sure she's figured something out. _She sighed and opened her eyes slowly when the doors to X's bathroom opened, and she found him standing at the foot of his bed staring at her with an expressionless face.

Something very rare for him, however, as of late, that's all she's been seeing … despite the handsome smile he flashes for the cameras, behind them, he was battling his will to fight, verses his instinct to run away. Jinx crossed her legs Indian style and tilted her head, her pink hair falling over her shoulder while her pink eyes stared back at him quizzically, "Do you even know who'd _want _to set you up?"

He blinked, his amber eyes sparking with that familiar mischievous amusement, and his trademark smirk returned, small, but there, "That's a long list," he crossed his arms over his chest and glanced up in thought.

Jinx sighed with a sweatdrop forming at the corner of her head, "So what are we going to do about this? The Titans are on the offensive, and you don't even know how they're going to be coming at you."

X snorted, "They don't even know who I am, let alone have any idea where I am, I got nothing to worry about."

Jinx narrowed her eyes, "Haven't you watched the news? Ocean View had a shooting two weeks ago. They're keeping it hush-hush, but my inside informant tells me that the girl that died, Jenna, her father received a letter telling him that Red X went to Ocean View. If this guy knows who you are, the Titans sure do now."

"How … the …" X trialed, shock and disbelief clearly written on his face.

She huffed and shook her head, "I thought you knew already?"

"… Shit …"

"Shit, is right, you're in trouble." Jinx sighed once more and crawled off his large California King sized bed, sauntering her away to the door she mentioned over her shoulder, "You know, I could call Giovanni to cancel his photo shoot … you don't really need it … and I don't think Rae really wants to go."

"What do you mean?" X arched a brow, "She said she wanted to go through with it."

Jinx sneered, "X, she was half-drunk when you asked her."

"Actually, she was quite sober."

She shook her head, _You wouldn't understand what you do to a girl like her …_ grabbing the door knob she opened it and backed out, "So what? You still want to go through with it?"

"…" he shrugged, "We'll see what happens."

"Alright … I'll see you later."

With that she closed the door silently and tip-toed her way back down to the second hallway where she reached her room. Taking a hold of her door knob, she yelped when she heard the door behind her slammed open, she spun around and leaned against her door. Staring into cold, hard, impenetrable amethyst eyes, Jinx steadied her heart beat and relaxed, "Oh … it's you …"

Raven sneered, "Sneaking around in such a scandalous outfit. My, my, I wonder what the tabloids would think when they find out James has been sleeping with his publicist. Better hope your sex tapes are locked up tight, wouldn't want that spreading around … though it would be an excellent publicity stunt … don't you think?"

Jinx blinked then scowled, "I am not sleeping with him! Are you crazy? I never mix business with pleasure."

"Yeah … right. So when are we going to this interview?"

"Soon, glad you're ready, just wait a moment and James will take you out to get some breakfast."

"Another _'public outing'?_"

"This ones legit, you're going out so the cameras can see you, and try to smile alright."

"If it doesn't kill me first."

"Oh please, you were havin' a ball last night, so don't tell me –" Jinx shut up when Raven levitated off the ground and got up in her face, glaring her down.

Raven growled, "I don't want to hear it."

"Alright, chill, chill, I get it … and you better drop down, otherwise your covers blown …"

Raven touched the ground and smoothed back her hair, out of concern she glanced around the hallway to be sure no one saw her, and took an easy breath. Jinx crossed her arms over her chest and arched a brow, "Mind telling me what's got your mood all screwy?"

"…" Raven said not another word, instead, through vibes she instructed Jinx to followe her into the safe confines of her room. Jinx, still dressed in her silky tang-top and matching silky shorts tilted her head and shrugged inwardly then followed after Raven. Closing the door behind her she stepped in and sat on the couch while Raven hovered at the bay-window looking out to Titan Tower, "I need the master keys to get into the third floor."

Jinx stilled, _Does she … know? _She frowned, "Why? What are you thinking?"

"… James has something to hide."

"Uh … hello," Jinx sneered, crossing her legs and shrugging, "He's a megastar … of course he has something to hide."

Raven frowned and shot Jinx a quizzical look, "Has the fact that he got out early not striking you as the least bit odd?"

"His uncles the principal … I don't think anyone would think that odd."

Raven shook her head, "You're missing the point."

"Then help me find it since you know it all."

"… I don't know it all, that's why I need the master key to get into James's study. He has to know something if he's such a megastar."

"Do you just have it out for him? What do you have against this guy?"

"Nothing. I just don't like him."

"You have to have a reason."

"He's annoying, how's that for a reason."

"Not a very good one." Jinx chuckled and stood up from the couch, headed for the door.

Raven called to her, "Hey, what about the key?"

Jinx shrugged, "I obviously don't have it on me right now, let me get ready then we'll talk … alright?"

"…"

"…" Jinx left Raven to her sulking, and the Titan crossed her arms over her chest, leaning on one leg she glared at the door in suspicion, not at all liking where her thoughts were headed.

She didn't want to think so lowly of Jinx.

Even though her instincts were telling her otherwise, her team had always preached second chances. It would only be fair if she held up their wishes … but, with Jinx? That was pushing her patience. Jinx was their enemy longer than she was their helper, it concerned her, especially with the way her aura tensed with the very mention of either James or Red X.

Raven dismissed it as her being James's publicist, and possibly being Red X's friend … or acquaintance making her guilty. However, Raven was beginning to suspect that were was something more behind Jinx's withering aura and she didn't like it. She had James to deal with, she didn't want to deal with Jinx too … but if that was the case … than maybe she should look into Jinx's background. Once the thought hit her, second-chances were thrown into the back of her mind as she flipped open her communicator to contact Robin.

"_Raven? I'm still processing the information … and aren't you supposed to be at an interview?"_

Raven dismissed his inquiry with a wave of her hand, "Never mind that … I need you to look into Jinx as well … I'm sorry Robin, but I can't trust her as much as you want me to."

"_You think she has something to do with it?"_

"Maybe not with the murder, but possibly with X … trace her steps and you might just find him."

"_What makes you so sure?"_

"Nothing … just a hunch."

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

Raven looked over her shoulder at the door and frowned when she sensed it was James, "I have to go."

"_Take care."_

She flipped her communicator off, and with her powers slid it under her bed, strolling up to the door, she faked surprise when she was met with James casually leaning on the frame, waiting. As handsome as ever, ready to make a public debut, he smiled a 1000 watt smile and winked one of his delicious honey-gold eyes at her, "Morning."

"James …" she whispered his name as a surprised star-struck human girl should, she glanced around as if waiting for a reality TV camera to pop up and stick its lens right in her face, "… uh … what are you doing here?"

"Came to say good morning, and check up on you," James his golden eyes dancing with a dangerous leer, "You enjoyed yourself last night?"

Rae blinked then cursed, _Damn … didn't I get drunk last night? I'm supposed to be hung over … _thinking fast and trying not to seem too obvious she sighed heavily and put on a dry face, hoping to god James didn't question her lack of pain, "Huh, besides the fact that I was dragged onto the dance floor God knows how many times, hit on by a creepy guy that wants me to model for him, and all in all forced into this crazy charade … I don't know, I guess I had _'fun'._"

James snickered, "Well, aren't you just a bright little ray of sunshine, Mary."

"Somebody has to be the optimist around here, might as well be me." Rae flashed a mocking smile then turned around, grabbed the door and put enough force to slam it in his face. She waited for that musical _**SLAM**_ and for that bewildered aura of his to falter, none came. Her sweet symphony was canceled when he slapped a hand on the door and made his entrance.

"Geez, you got one helluvan attitude on you." He said with an air of amusement and curiosity, "All I did was come and great you a good-morning and to see if you wanted to get something to eat. What have I ever done to set you off?"

Rae turned, peeved that he not only came into her room, but had the audacity to even suggest he's done nothing to upset her. She could list a number of things right off the top of her head, but thought better and bit her tongue. Unlike Raven, Rae had to hold back her _'witty-charm'_; she was just an average girl after all, and average girls can't outtalk a smartass without giving away the fact that she knows more than she should. However, since she was an average girl with an attitude, she could be just as smart an ass as James, but not now.

A thought crossed her mind, something Jenny said about James's _'connections',_ she lingered on that thought for a moment longer, then decided what the hell. She already went clubbing and proved that she wasn't a goodie-goodie might as well go all out and develop her _'character'_ a bit more.

Rae exhaled heavily and shook her head, running her fingers through her hair, then crossing her arms over her chest she glanced away from James and admitted in defeat, "Nothing really, I just don't particularly enjoy being away from my family for a long period of time is all … and I'm …"

His brow arched and he reeled his head back slowly to reevaluate her with a look of deep consideration, he tilted his head and asked softly, with a surprising gentleness that caught Raven off guard, "You mean your brother … you miss him already?"

_Hardly,_ Raven scoffed inwardly, thinking about her _'dear brother'_ and scowling secretively to herself, still resenting him for forcing her on this assignment. Outwardly she hugged herself and stepped away from James, turning her back to him, as if afraid to show him any bit of vulnerability, "… He's the only family I have …"

"You don't want to be here, do you?"

"…" she sighed and turned to face him, to explain the best she could, "… To be honest, no, but I promised my brother that I'd put myself out there and have fun … it's what my parents would want …"

"…"

"_Ahem!" _James glanced over his shoulder, Rae leaned to the side to see that Jenny was waiting at the door, hand on her hip and a teasing look on her face, "Hate to interrupt your moment of bonding, but your scheduled for a breakfast down at Jose's in about twenty minutes. Hilary Duff is shopping a block away, so if you hurry, you might just steal her spotlight."

James grinned, "Sounds like a plan," he turned to Rae and held out his arm for her to take, "Shall we?"

Rae's indigo eyes turned skyward as she reluctantly took a hold of his arm, their conversation easily forgotten, and walked with him to the garage where he ushered her into the passenger side of a black 911 Carrera. She frowned when she noticed Jenny was staying back, waiting for James to enter the diver's seat she asked him, "Jenny's not coming?"

James shook his head, "Nah, she has other things to do, like set up the interview, and make sure the photo shoot with Giovanni is still on … speaking of which …" he started the car, and with a jerk they where out on the driveway and on the road to the city, he glanced at her and asked, "… Jen said you didn't want to be apart of the shoot … do you wanna go?"

"…" interesting … he was actually taking her thoughts into consideration, and though it was probably a good idea to cancel the shoot, she wasn't in deep enough, so far she was going on hunches. Granted most of her hunches were never wrong, but still, some solid evidence would make her feel more secure in knowing that what she was on wasn't some wild goose chase. She shrugged, "I'd rather not … but it's something new … so … I'll go."

He laughed light heartedly, "Brave girl."

Rae narrowed her eyes suspiciously, that laugh … it wasn't even real, he was faking it. Though it was a pretty damn good fake, Rae could feel his aura swirling with may other thoughts … most of them dire, confused, worried, and maybe a bit apprehensive. Had what she said to him earlier in her room really gotten to him? Or was he worried about something else?

Rae had to leave it as mere speculation and sighed heavily, the rest of the drive done uneventfully, until they finally reached the ritzy restaurant known as Jose's that not even Robin could take Starfire to even if he saved up all his life's earnings. True to Jenny's info, the photographers and journalists where there mingling about trying to figure out where Hilary Duff was. In stead, they were distracted when James and his contestant winner pulled up to the restaurant.

They were the biggest spill in town.

The lucky girl and the handsome star.

It was a dream come true!

A fairytale unfolding in real life!

Would they hook up?

Was the girl after his money?

Was the contest rigged?

Is this for real?

Or is this all a set up?

So many questions so little time, and to think this was only the first day of her summer blowout.

Rae stumbled when a photographer jumped in front of her and started to snap her picture, lucky for her it was daylight so the flash didn't at all hurt her eyes, but otherwise, he startled her, "Hey there lucky girl! How you doing today? Going out with James are we, you look beautiful, smile!"

Another flash, Rae blinked, then yelped when James grabbed her elbow and yanked her to him, keeping a devilish smile on his charming face, Rae watched him play it up for all it was worth. Wrapping his arm around her waist and pretending to shield her from the cameras, he waved at the men and women all dieing to take photos, especially of them arm-in-arm, it was tabloid gold!

"Easy, easy guys, she's not use to this kind of thing. Cut the girl some slack alright?" James said with that hypnotic smile of his.

"James! Where you two headed?"

"Jose's to grab a bite."

"James! Is it true she's living with you?"

"Maybe." They finally reached the restaurant and James rushed them both in, security stopping the vultures at the door.

Rae sighed heavily and sneered, "Is this how it's going to be every time we make a public appearance?"

"Yep."

"Ugh …"

"Don't worry, you get use to it."

"I don't think so."

"We'll see," James grinned playfully as the host lead them to a choice spot in the restaurant, a high rise that looked over not only the entire area, but had a view of the street and all the other high-end shopping boutiques. Photographers, forced to stay out started snapping shots of them within the restaurant, their waiter had asked if they would like the curtains to be drawn. Rae was about to say yes, but James was faster, with a stunning smile he shook his head, "No, I think Rae would rather enjoy the sunlight. Right?"

"…" Rae stared at him for a moment, then shook her head and huffed in defeat, holding her breath and counting to ten she sighed heavily and picked up the menu. Shielding her view from James least she stare at him any longer and start to pick out the best ways – out one of the 600 million ways – to die. She was already on butter knife to the neck, when she shook the thought from her head and eyed the breakfast menu carefully.

Her eyes widening a fraction of an inch, she drop the menu and gave the nonchalant James a startled look, he turned his eyes up to her, and arched a brow, "What?"

"Nothing on this menu is even below a hundred dollars …" she stated in disbelief.

James shrugged, as if it was nothing, and to a millionaire like him, it probably _was _nothing, "So … and …?"

She blinked, then shook her head, "Never mind."

James chuckled and casually leaned back on his chair, "Look, Rae, princess when you're with me the skies the limit, nothing is out of your reach … I can get you anything and everything your little heart desires."

"… Then I want in."

"… Huh?"

"Your world … your culture … your connections … I want that … can you give me that?" she asked with challenging sarcasm, testing the waters to see where it'll lead her, planning everything out carefully to lure her prey in.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"That's what I thought …" Rae scoffed and closed her menu, propping an elbow on the white table cloth and resting her chin in her palm she gazed out the window, fringing disappointment, and sadness.

James shook himself out of his stupor and eyed the girl in front of him carefully, for the second time that day reevaluating her, "… You want … in? Even if I knew what that meant, why would you want to be apart of my world? It's not like what you see on television, it's kind of boring actually, a lot of talking, bribing, and dealing with lawyers and the works … why would you want to become a devil's doll?"

"… You said you could get me anything … but all I ever really wanted … was my family … I have my brother … but … like I said, he'd want me to have a little more fun … so would our …" she bowed her head and through her lashes, and fallen strands of hair she stared at him with a tired expression of a girl that has seen too much in life. She looked so helpless and innocent … so cute, what guy could resist that face? "… My parents are dead …so you can imagine that it'll make me cold and … bitter … and … I guess … you can't have everything you want."

She quickly got up from their table and made a dash for the bathroom, she slammed the door closed and locked it. Leaning on it she bowed her head and held her hands to her face. The bathroom attendant blinked in shock, "Oh …dear … miss, are you –?"

There was a knock on the door.

It was James.

Rae lifted her head up and revealed to the awfully confused attendant a cold calculated look that didn't at all match the sad, choked tone of a girl in turmoil, "Just … leave me alone …"

She sniffled and squeaked, then sighed heavily and coughed.

The attendant now understood and sighed with a dry look on her face, _Not another one of those … _she looked away pretending to see/hear nothing.

"_Rae … I'm sorry for upsetting you … are you alright?"_

"Wh-why are you … sorry …?" she sobbed, "I'm the one that's been so … so insufferable …"

"_No you haven't … argh … look, I'm the jerk alright! Me, I'm sorry for … thinking that … could you just come out of there? Please?"_

The attendant knew the drill and dampened a cloth with hot water and threw it at Rae who wiped her face with it to make it look stained with tears, then she squeezed some of the water in her eye to make it look red and puffy. Still sniffling, she tossed the cloth back to the attendant and lips a _'Thank you'_ before unlocking the door. The attendant's mouth dropped when she realized it was James that the girl was crying over …then … that must have meant this girl was the contest winner!

James pulled her into a hug, and it was all Rae could do to stop herself from shoving him off, keeping her arms at her side, but bowing her head into his shoulder. She made her body shiver slightly, and he held on tighter, "I'm sorry …"

Rae, tentatively, slowly raised her arms to return the gesture, grabbing fists full of the back of his shirt holding onto to them like they were her only life line, she pressed herself closer to him and sucked in a shaky breath, and whispered meekly, "I just miss them so much …"

Inwardly she smirked, _Hook, line, and sinker._

_Click!_

A flash blinded her through her eye-lids and she gasped then pushed away from James when a sneaky paparazzi snuck into the restaurant and snapped a shot of their little moment. Then ran like a bat out of hell, James stared agape, then he snarled and raced after the man. Rae, unsure about what to do, followed, but stopped when she saw James pick up a near by steak knife, her mouth falling open she gasped, "James! NO!"

With expert hands, he cocked his arm back then with the right jerk launched the knife. Waiters and customers alike all screamed in shock and fear as the knife whizzed through the air and nailed the camera at the precise moment the man angled himself for a clear shot. The man yelped and stared in shock and disbelief at his now destroyed camera. He turned to see who had thrown the knife, but the bodyguards had apprehended him and threw him out of the restaurant.

The host picked up the damaged camera and turned to James who rushed up to him and snatched the camera out of his grasp, the host bowed respectively, "Sir, I assure you we had nothing to do with that man, all the proper precautions will be taken, and your meals will be on the house."

"Forget it." James sneered, "We're not hungry, lets get out of here Rae. Rae?"

Rae stood perfectly still, and chewed on her lower lip, staring at him with an expression that matched nothing of the vulnerable Rae that was crying into his shoulder earlier. He frowned and held out a hand to her, "I'm not going to hurt you …"

_Hurting me is not what worries me … _Rae didn't take his hand, but walked right by him and straight out of the restaurant to the car. James followed close by, just to make sure the guy with the destroyed camera wasn't around to pester them, helping her into the car, he jumped into the driver's side. Slamming the door shut, he turned the car on and drove off, glancing curiously at Rae, he arched a brow and smirked to try and lighten the mood, "… I'm sorry if I scared you, but I wasn't going to kill the guy … I'm a natural born sharpshooter … my mother was a knife-thrower."

"Yeah …" Rae narrowed her eyes, then leaned away from him and eyed him carefully.

He glanced at her and didn't like the look she was giving him, "What?"

"… Nothing … just … curious …"

"… About …?"

"… About how long it'll take before you're busted for assaulting an innocent civilian."

James smirked, "I never get caught, and as for innocent civilian, there's nothing innocent about invading someone else's privacy. I know you wouldn't want that picture of us splattered across the front page."

"True … but you could have hurt him."

"Not a chance."

"You could have hurt the other people."

"I just said I was a sharpshooter cutie; don't worry your pretty little head."

"Yeah, bu –" she froze all thoughts, when a pulse of familiarity flooded her senses with that one word so many emotions crashed into her. Emotions that weren't hers, but through a friend's, a sort of flash memory that wasn't hers hit her like a brick wall. The mask … the sticky substance … the inability to move … the irritated anger when he touched her … when he spoke to her … when he said:

"_You know cutie, the only crime here is that you and I haven't gone out on a –"_

Rage took over and she blew him away.

"But what?" he asked.

Rae gasped inwardly, but outwardly she bowed her head and allowed her hair to shield her dumbfounded look when the scariest thought crossed her, _Robin said Red X might have hidden in the spotlight … but dead in the center of all the media attention? He can't be … _secretly she searched his aura, for familiarity … for secrets, and her heart skipped a beat when she recognized the mark.

The mark of a dangerous soul, corrupted with darkness, deceit, malicious intent, and arrogant defiance. His signature … that arrogance no other could match… Rae gulped and shook her head, falling back into character, "Uh … never mind … I trust you …"

"…" he eyed her curiously, but shrugged and let it go for now as they headed back to the Villa to pick up Jenny.

**--**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans**

**A/N: ****Dun****dun****dun****duuuuunn****Oooo …. Raven finally found out who James really is, about time too, now we're getting somewhere!!**

**And btw, sorry for keeping you guys waiting, I just have this thing about finishing a different chapter a head of the whole story before I can turn this one in.**

**Anyway ….. wonder what's gonna happen next, ;) send me your feedback and I'll see what I can do.**

**L8er daez**


	6. Showtime

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Showtime**

"Welcome back … that was … fast …" Jenny arched a suspicious brow as James and a hesitant Rae stepped back into the house and James tossed a broken camera to Mr. Hendricks, a man-servant that caught the camera and knew the drill. Jenny propped a fist on her hip, "Okay, what happened."

"Loss of appetite," James answered with an annoyed sneer, "Call me when the interview time clocks in, I'll be in my study."

With that he walked up the stairs to the third floor, Rae waited till she heard the _click_ of a locked door before she literally flew up the steps to the second floor and grabbed a fist full of Jinx's collar. Levitating the both of them down the hall and with her power she flung her door open and threw Jinx in.

The agile pink sorceress flipped herself on her feet, and glared at the pissed off Raven with her eyes glowing pure white and her teeth grinding together. Jinx scowled, "What the fuck is your problem!"

"You. _Lied."_ If there was ever a time Raven ever looked like evil incarnate, it'll be now, especially with that vicious look on her face. It was enough to do her father proud.

Jinx shook her head, "What are you talking about? I didn't –"

"_Shut-up!"_ Raven snarled like a true demon, it sent shivers down Jinx's spine; she gulped and shuddered, feeling like prey knowing its end as her predator stalked her. Raven, hovering off the ground, the tips of her toes scrapping across the carpet as she advanced Jinx, her fists clenched and flashing back and forth from black to nothing.

Various items in the room started to vibrate with her rising rage, and it was then it clicked, Jinx's eyes widened in shock, "You … know …"

"Took me a moment, but yeah," Raven growled, she cocked her head to the right, "and when exactly were you going to tell me miss-I-wanna-be-a-good-girl-but-am-not-so-good-on-telling-the-truth."

Jinx defiantly glared at her, "Hey, I didn't lie, I just didn't tell you, but I was planning to. I was trying to warm you two up for each other on trusting terms before I told … that way the both of you could work together on –"

"Have you lost your goddamn mind?" Raven's white eyes dissipated back to its violet orbs, but her cold glare still held strong, "I'm on this assignment to track him down and bring him in!"

"But isn't it also to find his framer? You already know X would never kill anyone."

"Jinx, that doesn't excuse the fact that he's a criminal … and right now, you're looking good behind bars yourself."

"… Raven …" Jinx gritted her teeth in frustration, trying to look demanding and in control, the fact of the matter was, she wasn't in control, not anymore at least. So she ended up looking defeated and pleading, but defiant all the same, "… You can't do this … for three months, going on four he's been trying so hard to find his framer. Someone that not only killed Jenna, but keeps setting him up for failure on every assignment he goes on. Raven, who ever he is, is determined to run him out of Jump City … do you really want that? X is a saint compared to him."

"You keep saying _'he'_," Raven, for a moment strayed off the subject to pursue a clue, "do you already have an idea on who this guy is?"

Jinx shook her head, "No … I don't know if it even is a girl or a guy … but Raven … don't do this … you can't."

"Why not." Raven challenged, if Jinx was going to prove herself, she better do it now and preferably under a minute because Raven's patience was wearing thin.

"…" Jinx wracked her brains for something, anything to earn Raven's trust. Raven? Trust? Jinx exhaled in defeat, but her glare never left her face, she still had one more card to play, one of the cardinal rules of being criminal, always have an ace up your sleeve, "Fine. Go a head and put me and X in jail … but without us you'll never be able to find Jenna's killer, not to mention what kind of media do you think the Titans will get when they catch you on tape drinking, and dancing with your villain, huh?"

"…" Raven frowned, and narrowed her eyes.

Jinx sneered, "What? You don't think that club, or Giovanni's place doesn't have cameras? If I go down Raven, you're going down with me."

"…"

"So go a head and throw away the key … it'll be too bad when I give the word to my connection to send out the tape –AAH!" Jinx screamed when Raven lifted her up with her power and threw her to the window, Jinx braced for it to shatter, but instead Raven phased her through and she crashed into the trees surrounding the Villa. She rolled and came too-close-for-comfort to the edge of the cliff. Scrambling from it, she stood up and took on a defensive stance as she watched Raven levitate from the Villa down to her. Jinx gritted her teeth, and balled her hands into fists. Her pink eyes blazing with fury, she swung her left arm up and swiped her right arm across, spun around and dropped both her hands to the ground.

Dark pink magic shot to Raven, tress toppled over, and crumbled, Raven sneered, "Azarath! Metrion! _Zinthous!"_

Encasing the falling tress in her darkness, she stopped them from falling and flung them all at Jinx, who nimbly dodged into the forest, but didn't get far, Raven threw out a black tentacle that wrapped around her ankle and dropped her to the ground. Dragging her back, Jinx clawed at the ground to try and escape, but Raven held fast, whipped her in the air, and jerked her back to dangle upside down before her. Raven scowled, and Jinx hissed, "What are you waiting for! Take me in! I _dare_ you!"

"Shut-up," Raven whipped her and slammed her into the ground, winding the pink sorceress, Raven crossed her arms over her chest and sneered, "you're not as much a threat as you think you are Jinx … but nevertheless, you're right about one thing. I cannot complete my mission, unless I have Jenna's killer. So make sure you get it straight, I'm letting you go under _that _rationale, _never _mistake my reputation for leverage."

"…" Jinx hauled herself up from the ground shakily, but otherwise pissed off that one of her favorite jeans were now ripped, torn, and dirty, completely unusable. She scoffed and wobbled to her feet dusting her arms, trying to look nonchalant, but not quite pulling it off, "Whatever … so … are you going to tell Robin you know who X is now?"

"No," Raven replied simply and crudely, "Robin will not be as merciful as me."

Jinx scoffed and rolled her eyes, "So what now?"

"… X has to cooperate with us, so I'm going to tell him who I really am and –"

"Honestly sunshine," both Raven and Jinx stilled when James's familiar amused voice echoed through the forest trees. Raven spun around on high alert looking for his voice, but unable to find him resorted to spreading out her aura in search for him. Jinx, knowing X personally already knew where he was and looked up before Raven to see the relaxed and casual thief leaning against a tree trunk while perched on a tree branch. He grinned down at the girls, "you really don't have to."

In a wink of an eye, he was gone, Raven tensed, watching him flip from such a high perch and true to his reputation, he stuck the landing flawlessly and jerked his head back to move a way a cowlick of hair that got in his way. Standing in front of Jinx, the pink sorceress slightly hunched over holding her arm stared at him curiously when he glanced back at her and asked emotionlessly, "You alright?"

"… Yeah …" she frowned, "… fine …"

"Good, now sit back and let me handle this." From his pocket he pulled out a double-edged knife, unfolding the blades and slipping his fingers through the knuckle braces. He squared off with Raven who was only too eager to take him on, levitating in the air, her eyes illuminated and her palms encased in darkness, she scowled at the sneering thief, "Gotta admit sunshine, that was quite a show you put on … had me going for a while, you would have done Terra proud."

Raven ignored him and gritted her teeth, "Azarath! Metrion! _Zin –"_

"_STOP!!" _Jinx jumped in between the two, screaming at the top of her lungs, she glared at either of the bewildered pair and desperately tried to gain their attention, "You both are acting like complete idiots! This isn't doing any of us any good!"

X scoffed, "Jinx, get out of my way."

Raven growled, "Move."

"No." Jinx defied them with a vicious glare of her own, "Am I the only one looking at the bigger picture here? Or what?"

X blinked, then snorted, "She started."

Raven arched a brow, "Excuse me? How did you even know we were out here?"

He shot her a dry look, "Are you serious? It's kind a hard to miss a giant black glowy tree flying by your window at unreal speeds. I'm conceited, not stupid."

Raven had to give him that, but she wasn't going to show it.

"So in seeing this you decided to investigate? Usually a human of your caliber would run screaming and calling the cops."

"Well I'm not just any human now am I sunshine."

"Raven. My name is Raven, learn it, _James."_

X snickered darkly, his golden eyes glinting with a tantalizing secret he dangled in front of her and teased her with, "That's not my name."

"Figured as much." She pouted and backed off, though keeping her distance from both of the criminals and hovering in the air with her arms crossed over her chest her eyes narrowed to deadly slits.

Jinx exhaled tiredly, "Alright, so is this a truce? We all behave ourselves and focus on the real problem at hand?"

X took his double-edged knife off and folded the blades up then stuffed it in his pocket and scoffed, "I'll keep my hands to myself if sunshine can behave herself."

Jinx shot a look at Raven who shrugged dryly and turned away, Jinx sighed, "Good enough … so we resume our roles … and _smoothly _navigate through the media. Right?"

"…"

"…"

"… That's as good as that's gonna get …" Jinx looked at her watch and her eyes popped open, "Damn! We missed the interview!"

Raven sneered, "Like _James, _needs anymore media attention."

Jinx ignored her, "Shit … are we still going to Giovanni's?"

X smirked, _"Rae _said that her brother dear and her dead parents would love it if she went out and tried something new, right _Rae?"_

She could have flipped him off right then and there, but since she was Raven, she held back, gritted her teeth and addressed Jinx, ignoring X completely, "We'll stick with it."

--

The ride to the studio was _painful_.

Sparks kept shooting off and electrifying the pacifistic Jinx who was caught between both of the quarreling Titan and Thief. With X's already tightly wound up stress from working this case for three months added with the invasion of a Titan knowing what he looks like. The usually cool laid-back guy looked ready to murder someone, his shoulders were ridged, and his posture was stalk straight, hell he looked like a soldier sitting at attention rather than a megastar enjoying the ride in his town car.

Raven, was no different.

Sure, from the start she portrait the image of an uneasy girl, with her guard always up and unwilling to give in to anyone else's will, basic Raven, but now that the cat was out of the bag there was no need for holding back. She was stoic, indifferent, unreadable, passive, cold, and mad as hell. The both of them sat so far apart from one another it was a wonder the town car didn't stretch at the force they put into pushing the other away mentally.

Jinx chewed on her lower lip as the car was coming to a stop – note the word: _coming_ – it hadn't even come to a completely stop before they both jerked their doors open and stepped out, slamming their doors shut in unison. Jinx bowed her head in defeat, _Good lord … this is not going to end well … _tiredly and grudgingly she reached for one of the handles and slid out of the car.

James and Rae stood at a painful distance of three feet waiting for her in front of the revolving doors of a giant skyscraper that Giovanni's magazine company owned, _Chic._ Jenny barely got within a yard of them before they both pushed their way through the revolving doors and marched through the lobby straight up to the counter. Rae stood off to the side, her arms crossed over her chest as James slapped his hand on the counter to gain the clerk's immediate attention, not in any mood to play any games.

The startled young woman looked up from her computer and blushed, "Mi-Mister James … how may I –"

"Appointment with G, buzz us in." He cut in crudely, Jenny narrowed her eyes and nudged his side, he glared at her, "What?"

Jenny sneered and shot him a dirty look; he rolled his eyes and ignored her, snatching a key-card from the clerk's hand he marched over to the elevator. Rae and Jenny followed closely, Jenny dreading the very idea of being stuck in another enclosed space with the duo. They weren't too hot on the idea either, but they all sucked it up and got on, the poor innocent by-standers that decided to ride with them received the blunt force of their animosity.

James swiped the key-card, next to one of the buttons and pressed said button to allow them access to the photo shoot. It wasn't long until the electricity started to fire again. Creating a strong enough current that Jenny was afraid would short circuit the lift and leave them stranded in tight space. If there was ever a time Jenny would call herself claustrophobic, it be now.

In a few seconds the ride ended and the air became semi-breathable again.

They entered the empty floor that looked a lot like an abandoned warehouse, but instead music was pumping loud and fast. Camera men, make-up artist, hair-stylists, and models of all ages and ethnicity scurried around among the chaos that was a fashion shoot. Expensive equipment, bright lights … this was the big time, Rae discovered, this was a serious shoot.

A job that a lot of these people took seriously … it was almost, unbelievable.

"Hey!" the three heads all turned to the left where a small petite woman of 22 – actually, 37 – sauntered their way in an outfit that looked like she woke up and threw anything on. However, this woman was dedicated to her job, that outfit of short-jean-shorts, a poncho inspired off white blouse and various beaded necklaces probably took time and much planning to come up with. She straightened out her green tinted glasses and pointed to Rae, "You Rae Roth?"

Rae, expressing surprise, shock, and uneasiness nodded, "Uh … yeah … how'd you know?"

"We've been expecting you, get over here," she said in a non-to-polite tone.

Rae, glanced at Jenny skeptically and the pink publicist smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, they don't bite."

"James!" the woman called out brashly, obviously the knowledge of his stardom didn't phase her, her green eyes narrowed, "Get over here, you're part of this shoot to!"

James huffed, "If I must."

Jenny frowned worriedly, _Please God, don't put them together!_

Of course … everyone knows God is all knowing and all merciful right?

So why is it that now he decided to take a vacation and ignore her wishes, when Jenny suddenly remembered that James told her he signed Rae and himself up for a duo. Who would have thunk they'd set themselves up for a disaster? Jenny tried not to hide behind her Blackberry as she started to fiddle with their schedules.

The woman, who Rae discovered was named Kallie, lead her over to hair-and-make-up a clipboard in hand she glanced down at it and gestured for Rae to sit. With scrutinizing eyes she pieced together a look that'll compliment Rae, and the clothes she would be modeling for, then nodded and cast a second glance at her attire. She arched an interested brow at Raven's long black baggy turtle-neck sweater that reached down to mid-thigh and the black knee length boots on her legs.

She, _'hmm'_, in thought, then shrugged nonchalantly, "Nice look, it suits you, brings out your face more. Anyway, you're scheduled with James to do the office shoot. Giovanni will give you your motivation once you get on set, other than that …" she turned to the make-up artist and told them to put light make-up on her face. Saying something along the lines of: _'I want her face to strike fear into men's hearts'. _

All Rae could do was sit back helplessly as multi-hands started to work on her.

Touching her all over, fixing her up, making her perfect, it took only 10 minutes and then they ushered her to the clothing wrack where Kallie tossed Rae her first set and said, "You'll be doing a five page spread in _Chic _magazines, good luck."

"Wait …" Rae stopped her, she turned back and shot her an impatient look, Rae glanced around and asked sheepishly, "Where's the dressing room?"

Kallie arched a brow, then snorted and spread her arms out, gesturing to the entire corner space that was all for her, "Honey, you're looking at it. So strip down and get dressed, time waits for no woman."

With that she left to take care of the other photo-shoots that were taking place in the area. Rae cringed, grimaced and groaned in annoyance, "Great … just … great …"

Hesitantly, glaring at the other men and women around her, she sighed and took off her clothes quickly then dressed into a white button-up collar blouse. She then slipped on the black corset outside – that one of the female stylists came to help her in without call – and afterwards slid into the black slacks and heels. The stylist smiled at her warmly and squeezed her shoulder, giving her words of encouragement, "You'll do fine … it's always scary the first time."

"…" Rae acknowledged her with a nod, then feeling her tight-bun hair, making sure everything was in place, she walked on set where she spotted Jenny sitting on a sofa a cell phone to her ear talking rapidly into the mouth piece. Rae sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring off to the side. The sound of a camera snapping a shot shouldn't have surprised her, but this one did, considering the fact that it was right in front of her.

Giovanni took another shot, then stood up straight and grinned down at her, "Lovely … I knew I chose right by you darling."

Rae sneered, "Right … can we just get this over with."

He chuckled, "Patience my dear, you can't rush art."

"Uh-huh," Raven retorted dryly.

"Sir," one of the camera men walked up to Giovanni, "we're ready for the next set."

He nodded, "Good, I'll take this one over." He turned to Rae and offered her his arm … suspicious and unnerved; Rae took it anyway and allowed him to lead her onto the façade of an office space, complete with a desk, a black leather couch, and a doorway, "Has Kallie told you your role?"

"No."

He let her go and chuckled, "You're a businesswoman, you own your own company, and you're in complete control. A control that is threatened when an affair you thought long since died out returns to haunt you. You have five pages, in each page it will show you bit by bit succumbing to your desires, until you finally give in to your forbidden love."

It didn't take a rocket scientist for Rae to figure out who James was in this role. She rolled her eyes and snorted, "Forbidden, huh? Why is it so forbidden?"

"Oh, because you're mixing business with pleasure princess," Rae glanced to the side, watching James stalk her like a cat with a plan, dressed deliciously, his amber eyes winked at her as he finished his lesson, "and you never mix business with pleasure."

He stood beside her, and Giovanni nodded in approval at his attire, but turned away, his attention called to the lights on the set. Rae glared at the nonchalant James, his once tensed aura relaxed and aloof, she sneered, "Oh, you're talking to me now?"

He glanced down at her and shrugged, "I still got a reputation to protect."

Rae rolled her eyes for the second time in a row, "Which one is that? A prissy celebutant, or a bone-headed thief?"

"You can be a bitch about this all you want, the fact of the matter is, this is my life on the line, and if you fuck this up for me, you won't know what hit you."

"Is that a threat?" She growled darkly; hand on her hip, her look so dark it could have sent him straight to another dimension.

He returned it with a cold glare that was all his own style of penetration, drilling through her barriers to glare through the windows of her soul, his words laced with malice and evil intent, "No, it's a promise."

They stood like that for a good long time, daring either of them to act on heir threat. Until Giovanni returned and announced that should they get into positions, they were to use the door frame and before Rae could even get an idea on how to set this up, James gave her an idea. He propped himself against the frame, one hand in the pocket of his slacks, the other just hanging out, looking casual and nonchalant. Rae, smirked when she rushed up to him, got up in his face, and grabbed his neck tie, yanking on it, as if to pull him down to her eye level. The motion caught him off guard, but he watched his facial expression and kept it arrogant.

Giovanni loved it! He took the shot and kept shooting with every move she made.

Since she was an amateur at this, Giovanni coached her, telling her to watch her angles, watch where she placed her hands. Advising her to watch her positions, and like the fast learner she was, she picked up rather quick. Soon enough by the time she dressed down into her final shot, she was giving James a run for his money.

Threaten her will he?

Hah!

She'll run him ragged before he'll ever live to see that threat carried out.

The audacity, the sheer arrogance!

And she thought Robin was insufferable.

James was down right spiteful.

Now in a ruffled skirt, she walked back onto the set and took her place on the couch where she waited for James. Jenny, now off the phone and just watching with great interest came up to her and sat next to her on the set, grinning from ear to ear she looked like the old Jinx that Raven once knew and loathed, "Hey, fun huh?"

With her hair now down she ran her fingers through it and scoffed, "I don't think so."

Jenny just shrugged and for the remainder of the time they waited they sat in semi-comfortable silence, Rae was still cold, and Jenny was still frustrated about this whole turn of events. Five minutes pass … then ten … and Rae furrowed her brows, "Okay … I'm not exactly knowledgeable on these kinds of things, but, I highly doubt make-up and hair takes this long on a guy."

Jenny frowned; "I know …" she stood up and called out to Giovanni who was talking with someone on his crew, "G! Where's James?"

Giovanni scowled, "You tell me, one minute he's at make-up, the next he's gone."

Jenny blinked in shock, "Gone?"

Rae stood up as Giovanni sneered, "Yes, gone, now my whole shoots ruined!"

"Where could he have _gone _to?" Rae glanced back and forth, expert eyes scanning the crowd; she ran back to her dressing area and quickly changed back into her own clothes. Rushing back to Jenny who was dialing down a number that Rae was going to guess was James's cell while they both hurried over to the men's dressing area; looking to be sure James was really gone.

All hope shattered when Jenny found James's cell still tucked into the pocket of his pants, ringing with her number on it. She hung up her phone and looked up at Rae, "He's never done this before."

Raven scowled, "He's running."

"From what?"

"Me, of course, the coward doesn't want to go to jail, where he belongs."

Jinx glared at Raven, "That doesn't make any sense. You're jumping to conclusions."

"Am I? He finds out who I really am, and suddenly he just vanishes in the middle of a photo-shoot? You said so yourself, he has impeccable timing."

Determined to argue his innocence, Jinx scowled, "You could be wrong, he could be in trouble."

Raven turned on her and quietly argued, "Why are you defending him? He's gone! He left you to take the fall for his crimes, and you still insist upon his innocence."

"Because it's not his style!" Jinx hissed through gritted teeth, "He does what he wants to get what he wants, why would he pass up an opportunity like you!"

"Because that'll be the smart thing to do in his case, end of discussion."

Raven glanced around to be sure no one was watching them then pulled out her communicator and flipped open the video link, to contact her friends, but Jinx shot out a hand and put it over hers to stop her. Indigo eyes shot up a vicious glare at the pink-eyed sorceress who _insisted_ she listened, "I know you don't trust X, but I do, I know his moves … and I'm not entirely stupid."

Pulling out her Blackberry, Jinx navigated the little tech and then flashed Raven two blinking dots. One red, the other pink, Raven figured that the red was X, and she arched a brow, "You trust him … and yet you put a homing device on him?"

Jinx shrugged, "Always have an ace up your sleeve … and according to this, he's not far, just a block away, and moving fast, probably in a car."

Raven nodded, "Alright then, let me call my team and we'll finish this charade."

"Hold on," Jinx held her hand firmly, "let's go after him ourselves … if he's really running, then we'll take him down together."

"…"

"…"

Raven gritted her teeth and closed her eyes in thought, than huffed in defeat, what the hell, why not. If he got away, at least the entire world would know the truth, that James Jax was nothing but a petty cowardice thief. She entertained that thought for a moment longer, and the more she thought of it, the more it enticed her, until she nodded, "Fine."

Jinx grinned, "Good, than let's go hunting."

**--**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, only Giovanni … and Kallie … and a few other … you know what you'll find out later ;)**

**A/N: I am so sorry for those of you that didn't want Raven in a photo shoot, trust me, if I could I would have changed it just to suit your request. However the truth of the matter is when I came up with this story that modeling-thing was going to be playing an important roll in the story … and maybe if you give it a chance you just might like the out come ;). Just trust me okay guys and gals, I'll try not to let you down, but if I did, I greatly apologize for it.**

**Okay, enough groveling, your turn to grovel lol jkjk!! But really, I would like some feedback, makes my day ya know.**

**L8er daez**


	7. Brother, Oh Bother

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Brother, Oh Bother**

Still in her over-sized sweater and knee high boots, Rae smoothed back her blue-black hair as she followed Jenny out of the cab onto the sidewalk still following James's signal. The two ladies stopped before another office building, but Rae frowned, _Wayne Enterprises … what are we doing here?_ She had a bad feeling in her gut as Jinx gestured for her to follow into the building.

Upon entering the lobby, Rae suddenly felt way underdressed within the high-powered business suit wearing men and women making more money than she could dream in an entire lifetime. Granted she felt uncomfortable, but not bothered, only because these people had better things to do than to acknowledge a couple of kids casually strolling into their building. Jenny walked straight to the counter and beckoned for the clerk's attention, she got it in a dry fashion, "Can I help you?"

Jenny smiled sweetly, "I don't have an appointment, but I was wondering if a James Jax had gone through here?"

The clerk's eyes widen a fraction of a disbelieving inch at the mention of the superstar's name, "James … Jax …? Here? In this building?"

Rae rolled her eyes and sneered in thought, _Is the entire world oblivious?_

Jenny giggled, "I don't know, is he?"

The clerk blushed when she realized that, that was her job to find out, so she quickly shot up from her seat to go and discuss it with the rest of her coworkers who suddenly shot at attention at the mention of James. They all turned to look at Jenny who was soaking in all the attention like a sponge, Rae just leaned on the counter and gazed around the lobby. Under her breath, but loud enough for Jenny to hear she said in monotone, "We're wasting time …"

Jenny, still holding her smile turned to her and in a stiff, forced happiness she replied, "Just, wait a goddamn minute."

Rae arched a brow, then glanced at the workers who all began to gather around the counter and leaned in close, examining not Jenny, but Rae. All of them were pretty, young, and had the potential to take over their own company if they would just grow out of their sick obsession with some guy that they knew _nothing _about. That wasn't an exaggeration either; none of these girls knew the dangerous criminal behind the sexy smile.

Rae narrowed her eyes on them suspiciously as their eyes sparkled, a redhead leaned in closer, Rae leaned back afraid that she'd probably catch the same stupid-virus that got these girls hooked on X. She squealed, "OMG!! You really are her! You're Rae Roth! _Aaahhh!!!_ I have to have your autograph!! You are, like, my hope that girls like us _can_ make it with someone as amazing as James!!"

Without warning a couple of pens and pieces of paper were thrust into her face, Rae just blinked, dumbfounded, she glanced at Jenny in apprehension, and all she did was shrug. Not sure what to do, or how to handle this, as Raven, she was never approached for an autograph, no one was stupid enough to request something so ridiculous of her. However, she wasn't supposed to be Raven, and so Rae just forced a smile on her face before she giggled nervously and began to sign papers, "So … um … who should I make it out to?"

"Oh! Kristina!"

"Cathy!"

"Lila!"

"Joe'kia! Thank you so much! You have no idea how much this means to us."

"Right … so … uh, where _is_ James?" Rae asked and braced herself for another squeal, but all they did was look among one another. The woman who was first addressed the question blushed in embarrassment as if she remembered she had a job to do.

"Oh, right, I'm sorry, but James didn't come by here, and trust me, _I'd_ know." She giggled among her friends.

Rae refrained from rolling her eyes as she turned to Jenny, "Well, you heard them, he never came around here."

Jenny frowned and took out her black-berry to recheck the tracker, and shook her head, "But he should be here …" her eyes widened, when realization sudden struck her, "He's somewhere in the building …"

"How would you know that?"

"He could be underground … you take the roof, I'll take the basement."

Jenny was quick to split up, but Rae shot a hand out and grabbed a hand full of the back of her blouse and yanked her back, "I don't think so. I already lost one; I'm not loosing the other."

Under her breath Jenny growled, "X could be in trouble, and you're more worried about putting the blame on someone? That's low, even for you."

Rae narrowed her eyes, "Like I said, it doesn't matter if X gets away; we have his identity he won't be leaving this country without anyone knowing who he is. With that said, you're the only link I have into his world and into solving that murder. I'm not taking anymore risks."

Jenny pulled her clothes back to her, but grabbed Rae by the wrist and dragged her away from the counter, away from the star-struck clerks, "I'm putting everything on the line for X, I have nothing to gain if I become a villain again, in fact, I've had clients with secrets they would literally kill to keep. So get over being a goddamn Titan for once and just be a hero, James is missing, are you going to help me or not?"

"…" Rae sighed and turned away to glance at the clerks who were all staring at them curiously, Rae glared darkly, then lead Jenny to the far side of the lobby, into the lounge. Finding a secluded spot she turned to Jenny and poked a finger at her chest, "Don't get caught. I can't even begin to stress how important not getting caught is. Don't make me regret this Jinx."

Jinx smiled stealthily, her eyes glowed pink for a second, but it was enough to set off the fire drill and startle many of the works when the sprinklers were activated and water drenched the lobby, "You have nothing to fear."

With the distraction set, Raven became a shadow of her name and shot up into the roof unseen to the humans who were all ducking and scrambling to get away from the water. Raven had to give Jinx props, the alarm wouldn't even alert the Titans their way, but it would piss off a lot of people trying to get some work done. She shot straight into the vent and navigated through the maze straight to the roof. There, she popped out and landed soundlessly on the gravel.

Tense, she glanced around looking for anything suspicious; the harsh wind whipped around her and hindered her hearing. However, since she was a trained fighter, she sensed it before it was too late. An X blade sliced through the air, aimed right for her head, she ducked it, but a barrage of knives followed afterwards forcing her to shoot up a shield to block. Her eyes glowing white with enraged agitation, she growled, "In trouble my ass."

"_Get down!"_ He was too fast for her to move, all she saw was his golden eyes locked on her, his arms suddenly found themselves around her waist as he jerked her to him and rolled them both to the ground. Lucky to, consider the fact that another blade nearly nailed her in the back. Flat on her stomach, she groaned when his weight pressed down on top of her. Annoyed she came close to shouting at him to get off, but he pressed a hand on top of her head and held her down. He growled into her hair, "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Raven emitted a gasped, his weighting making it hard for her to breath, not to mention with their position her sweater was hiking up higher than her comfort zone, "get off, what's going on?"

"None of your business now stay out of my way." He pushed off and stood in front of her, still dressed in the clothes he was supposed to be modeling for Giovanni, only clipped to it was a holster of preformed xinthonium blades. Raven sat up and looked beyond X to his opponent and her mouth cracked open in confusion when she realized the woman wasn't human.

She was a vampire, out in the middle of the day.

Now Raven, being a demon, had a special job that no other Titan in their files held the requirements she had to take care of, and that was to work under the Disciplinary Agency. Centuries old, and created to ensure the coexistence of all Immortals and Mortals on Earth, she was to be sure the Immortal Code was followed by all immortals, no exceptions. This vampire was in direct violation, meaning, no matter how much she wanted X dead, he was a human as far as she knew, and she had an obligation to defend him.

Even if he was a criminal, human criminals were to be tried by the human courts, X should have nothing to do with immortals in fact he shouldn't even know they exist. However, Raven guessed with his line of work, it wasn't uncommon for the worlds to blend. The vampire directed her eyes down at Raven, and Raven immediately shielded her aura, she was still undercover, she was supposed to be a human girl, and the vampire was low enough on her food chain to fall for such a weak spell.

She grinned maliciously, flashing her fangs, "My, my … a snack after a job well done … she looks delicious."

"Shut up and tell me where she is!" X shouted above the roaring wind, although it was highly unnecessary, vampires had heightened senses. Raven narrowed her eyes; _He's not talking about me is he? I'm right here._

The vampire blinked slowly, her grin faltered for a second, but only a second, her dark black eyes calculating, and evaluating her current situation, then she giggled and put a finger to her lips in a silencing gesture, "I'll never tell … they promised me she could become my little servant girl. Lord knows I need a fix every now and then."

The _'fix'_ she was talking about was fresh blood.

Ever since the turn of the century, pacifistic scientists both mortals and immortals alike discovered away to tone down the death toll from the vampiric community, and that was through the Blood-Pill. However, the reaction wasn't exactly what the scientists were hoping for, vampires were torn between thinking the Pill is the answer to coexistence, others thought it was ridiculous and claimed that the Blood Packs from the blood banks were enough. Then, there were the old fashion vamps who wanted it straight from the source; however, human consumption had become part of the Immortal Code, and therefore illegal.

Not surprising how this woman, who was already breaking countless codes, was sinking in deeper and deeper. It didn't matter who she and X were talking about, Raven now had compiled a list of reasons to kill her, and that was the way of the Immortals. No jail time, no warnings, no probation, it was either follow the code or die or eternal rest. Raven now had to figure out when was the best time to strike; with X clutching his hands into tight fists Raven just hoped he didn't make the first move.

She didn't care how good he was against the Titans.

Immortals were a different story.

X gritted his teeth and Raven shuddered when she felt his rage coming to a peak, right along with guilt, and self-hate, his voice was strained compared to his shouting earlier, "If you hurt her … I swear I'll make you pay."

The vampire laughed, "Are you actually threatening me human? You couldn't lay a single blade on me earlier, what makes you so confident you'll _ever _hurt me?"

He tensed, and Raven sneered, _No!_ He moved, she shot forward and grabbed his ankle, tripping him to the ground just as the vampire vanished from sight and reappeared behind him, swiping a sharp knife towards his neck. She only sliced air, and for a second it baffled her, she looked down and cried out when Raven smashed her booted foot – also steel bottom/steel toed – into her gut. She stumbled back and hissed, "You little bitch!"

X looked over his shoulder and grabbed Raven's shoulder, dragging her around so she was once again behind him; he shot her a dirty look before he engaged the vampire in combat. The same double-edged knife he pulled on Raven was in his hand. They moved so fast that it was hard for Raven to believe _X_ was even human.

The woman was grinning like the Cheshire cat and with a chuckle she slide from his range, then with speed that no human could possess she bypassed him and rushed Raven. Grabbing her by the throat, the vampire holstered her up on her feet and used her as a guard, X reacted too fast to stop himself, and the moment he realized he made a mistake, the blade he sent flying sliced through Raven's right shoulder.

"_Aahh!" _Raven screamed and the vampire licked the side of her face.

"You smell and taste so delicious darling … I can't wait to have you all to myself."

X glared, "Dammit! I told you to stay out of the way!"

Raven shot him an even dirtier look, "Shut-up, you're the one that cut me not the other way around!"

The woman laughed out loud, X snarled, "How the fuck did you find me anyway?!"

"Jenny may be your assistant, but she's still on _my_ side."

"She put a tracker on _me?"_

Raven sneered, "You sound so shocked."

"I bet you put her up to it, you and your obsessive little bastard of a –"

"Obsessive? You wanna talk about obsessive? How about the crazy looney-toons that worship the ground you walk on? _That's_ obsessive!"

_CRASH!_

Jinx blasted the door leading to the roof off its hinges, throwing everyone off guard, everyone except Raven, reaching up a hand behind the woman's head; she flipped her and slammed her on the ground. Using her powers she broke off a piece of nearby pipe and stabbed it into her heart, the woman screeched, but Raven knew it wasn't enough. She needed silver to kill her, and that's where her belt came in, quickly unwinding it from her waist she wrapped it about the vampire's neck and with the right twist dug the silver into the flesh, then snapped her neck.

Being highly allergic to silver, the metal traveled through her blood stream and she burst into a brilliant array of ash and amber.

X stared in utter disbelief, "No! You killed her!"

Raven sneered, her demonic blood healing the wound on her shoulder, "That's the point."

"You fucking idiot! She had her! She had – _goddamn it!"_

"What are you talking about? _Who_ are you talking about?"

"My sister," he snapped, and it made it clear to Raven why he was feeling extreme self-hate and guilt … apparently his sister was a hostage, but why? What for?

Raven narrowed her eyes, Jinx watched the two carefully, then cleared her throat to get their attention, "Ahem … um … but … is this the girl you're talking about? Found her tied to a beam in the basement."

X and Raven both watched as Jinx went back into the building and beckoned for someone to come out. X stood on edge as a little girl no older than 10 years of age with redish brown eyes and light brown hair pulled up in a messy pony-tail came walking out. An aura of wisdom and cold indifference about her as she looked up at X, and X down at her. She scowled at him, her cinnamon eyes on fire. They may have not been amber like his, but they burned into his soul like molten hot lava, "It's always your fault."

That was all she said before she bowed her head and walked back into the building, as if disappointed. X's shoulder's sagged and for a second Raven felt his soul give up life, drained of all hope, and slowly dieing. It broke her heart involuntarily and for him a tear slipped from the corner of her eye. She quickly wiped it away and cursed her powers for being so sensitive to other's emotions, sniffling; she sighed heavily and closed her eyes, "We should get going."

"Yeah …" he agreed, has anger totally demolished, and replaced with heavy remorse, but equally relieved. Jinx looked down the stairs at the little girl sitting at the base; the little girl looked up at her with an arched brow, then beyond her at her brother and the girl with him.

With a sneer that could very well rival Raven's she scoffed and stood up, waiting for the trio to come down to her level. She flinched away from her brother's touch when he put a hand on her shoulder, he never tried to touch her again, but he did manage to ask, "You alright?"

She glared at him, and despite her age and pint-size height, she had one helluva strong vibe to her, "I was held captive by a vampire that wanted to make me her familiar because of something you did. Of course it's nothing new … but a little warning might help."

X sighed, "I'm … sorry …"

As they continued to walk down the stairs Raven watched the little girl lift up her little hand and slide it into her brother's, it was a small gesture … but it was enough. X held it firmly, and reassurance flooded into his heart, he loved her dearly, that much Raven knew … but what she didn't know were the important details. Like who she was, and what was going on, never one to waste time, she fired her first round of questions, "I don't mean to pry … but who's the girl?"

Jinx, thankfully, was on her side this time, "Yeah, James, who's the girl?"

"… My sister."

Raven turned up her eyes, "I figured as much, but who is she?"

"…"

"There's no point in being shy about it, I'll find out soon enough."

X growled, clearly annoyed he replied in a crude tone, "Tru, alright, her names Tru."

Jinx smirked, "Geez X, why didn't you tell me you had a sister? Cute too, do good-looking genes just run in your family or what?"

X rolled his eyes, "Not now Jen."

"What did the vampire want with her and more importantly, what do immortals have anything to do with you."

"Plenty," it wasn't X that answered but his kid-sister, "my brother likes to stick his hands into the cookie jar, it doesn't matter whose it is, but he gets into everything. And no, this isn't the first time this has happened, it's frequent."

Raven arched a brow, "How frequent, and why?"

"Why could be a variety of things, and I could honestly careless what any of them were, as for how frequent … depends on how important whatever assignment he takes up. Most of the immortals are kind enough to treat me with care, but all-in-all I am but one thing, leverage, disposable."

Jinx frowned and whacked X on the back of the head, "Ow! What the – hey!"

"How could you put this girl through so much? Where were you keeping her all this time?"

"She was staying over at a friend's house, I thought no one would find her there, apparently I was wrong."

Raven interjected, "Dead wrong, you better hope that woman just took your sister and left the other humans alive, otherwise, I'll be forced to report this to the DA."

Jinx arched a curious brow, "DA? _District Attorney_?"

"Disciplinary Agency, the police force that uphold the Immortal Code."

X glanced up at the indigo-eyed sorceress, "And you're apart of them? I thought you were a Titan?"

"I am … but my position is a little more complicated than you think, it's all politics," Raven flicked her wrist in dismissal, and immediately seized her questioning when the group stopped at a floor to board an elevator, but X was hesitant to go out. Raven knew why, the little girl, James wasn't know to have any family … being seen with a little girl would raise questions, "Give her to Jinx."

X blinked and shot a confused look, "Huh?"

Raven gestured to Tru, her cinnamon eyes narrowed on the Titan suspiciously, "Let Jinx exit with her, she could act like a lost little girl, and you and me can walk out to take most of the attention."

X frowned, "You think I haven't thought of that already? I don't want to leave my sister when the danger of another attack is still there."

"That's just a chance you're going to have to take."

"Listen to her, brother," Tru warned in a sing-song tone, eyes closed and waiting patiently, she cracked open one eye and gave him an unreadable look.

X narrowed his eyes, "You're willing to put yourself in danger?"

"Why not? Nothing I haven't been through before." She said with a hint of an ennui attitude, "Being your sister isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world …" then, as an after thought she added quickly, "…but it doesn't mean Felix is any easier."

She slipped from his grasp and slid into Jinx's hand, never once did she flinch or shy away when she lead the honestly amused pink sorceress out through the door and into the hall. Leaving Raven and X to stand in the stairwell in silence, with nothing but the buildings empty hum ringing in their ears. Their silence was neither comfortable, nor pregnant … just … silent, both of them contemplating different things. Raven reassessing her current position, and X wondering what the hell he was going to do with his sister now that her location had been found.

True enough, Tru had been used as a tool against him on more than one account, this murder investigation not included. None of her captors human, all of them immortal … it didn't surprise him one bit, it was nearly impossible to hide anything from immortals. Didn't mean he was nonchalant about it either, it troubled him that he couldn't better protect his sister from harm … she was the only family he had close to him. He couldn't bare the thought of losing her … bad enough she always seemed detached from the world, like she could careless about life anymore, and he blamed himself for it.

"X." he looked up – er, down – at Raven, she had already taken the first steps down to the floor below Jinx's and Tru's. With her delicate artisan hands lightly touching the rail, her long blue-black hair cascading down the full length of her back, some of it hooked onto her shoulder, and her amethyst eyes betraying no emotion or thought. She spoke again, and he couldn't help to notice how her voice didn't carry a harsh echo within the stairwell. Instead, she sounded like a sweet whisper, almost wistful if it weren't for the sharp tone hidden within each word, "We have to go."

He arched a brow and frowned in distaste, but followed anyway.

_She knows more about me than I'd like,_ he sneered inwardly, but outwardly he silently stayed far enough away from her. It felt like a huge crevasse dug between them. It was so painfully obvious how apprehensive and suspicious they were around each other, it wasn't even funny.

They touched down the first flight of stairs and were about to move on to the second, and finally to the next floor, but he gently put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She went rigid, her shoulders tensed, but she stopped and glanced over her shoulder up at him, and inwardly bit down on her lower lip. This silence was deafening … it unnerved her – ironic, considering she usually loved silence – but that wasn't the only thing that unnerved her. It was his amber eyes, when those gold coins weren't dancing, or flirting, or sparkling, they were formidable to challenge.

Slowly his hand slid off her shoulder and she watched it leave her person, then, with a blink she looked back up at him, when he sighed, "Look … I know we're not the best of friends, but … could you do me a favor?"

Raven narrowed her eyes, "She can't stay at Titan Tower if that's what you're going to ask me."

He scoffed and rolled his beautiful eyes, "Like hell I was going to ask that."

Carefully measured she asked, "Than what's the favor?"

"… My sister … Tru, she's … she needs help."

Raven blinked slowly, her face slowly turning dry and deadpan, "You do know there are shrinks for whatever mental trouble there is with her."

He shot her a sardonic look, "That's not what I meant … she's getting into … I don't know what you call it, magic I guess, I don't know, but she's getting good at it … she wants to get better … but like I know anything about Hocus Pocus."

She tilted her head in honest curiosity, "So … she's studying to become an illusionist?"

"Honestly, I don't know," he shrugged, "ask her … help her … and maybe I'll play nice from now on."

"…" Raven sneered, "You trying to make deals?"

"We're both reasonable people here right?" His golden eyes glinted off the light, and sent an uneasy shiver down her spine, that look could rival any imps grin, "We work together we can solve this a lot faster and we can be out of each other's hair a lot faster."

Raven shifted her weight to prop a hand on her hip, a clutch of hair falling to cover over her right eye, "Right … and by _'out of each other's hair'_ you mean for me to look the other way while you ride off into the sunset never to be seen of again. Sorry, but stupidity isn't exactly my forte."

She turned her back with a flick of her air and continued down the stairs, X following close behind with a lighthearted chuckle, "Hey, you never know, shit happens."

"Oh, I know," she sneered, a hand on the door knob, she glared over her shoulder at X's dancing eyes, "I mean … look where it got me … stuck with you."

X laughed and she pushed through the door onto the next floor, but as X was coming through, she put a hand on his chest to stop him, his smile still on but a little perplexed he tilted his head and his smile slowly faded when she asked, "By the way … who's Felix?"

--

**Disclaimer: I don't own the teen Titans, sorry folks, if I did the world would be a much different place, trust me on that, but I do own Tru, sweet little Tru :P**

**A/N: Sorry if this update took longer than usual, schools been hectic and I might get suspended for fucking this girl up if she don't stop pressing my damn buttons … fuckin sophomore …. I apologize to any sophomores out there reading this, but god-damn do the lower-classmen at my school act like they're still in frickin' elementary!!**

**Ugh … never mind … breath, just breath … alright, as usual, feedback will be greatly appreciated – and since I'm in such a bad position – your messages will really make me feel better.**

**Luv'yaz ;)**

**L8er daez**


	8. Talk is Cheap

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Talk is Cheap**

"Felix?"

Raven slid her hand off his chest and nodded, "Your sister mentioned him … who is he?"

Suddenly his golden eyes became guarded and unreadable; he blinked and turned away from her, trying to futilely keep that nonchalant persona when it was dead obvious something about that name bothered him. He chuckled forcefully, and shrugged, "Ah … he's no one important."

He tried to move around her, but Raven blocked and nailed him with a dark look, "And here I thought you were going to play nice … goes to show how much a thief's word is really taken to his own heart."

Again he brushed her off, "I told you, he's no one important … probably a friend of Tru's, I'd hardly know, I make it a point to keep some distance between us. The less we're seen together, the better."

He brushed passed her shoulder and she let him go with narrowed eyes of a bird-of-prey. He was hiding something else, and she'll get to the bottom of it soon or later. Playing along she strolled by his side the entire time they made their way through the building to get out. James taking it all in stride when someone admired him, and Rae apprehensively smiling gratefully when people congratulated her on her winning.

None of it went unnoticed to the ever observant little Tru, walking hand in hand with Jinx taking the back way out of the building. Her cinnamon eyes narrowed and locked on Rae, watching her every move with her brother, observing the small little twitches every time James reached to touch her elbow. Or even make a joke for her to join in on. She seemed reluctant, and that she should be, Tru knew her brother well, and she knew her brother wasn't exactly a trustworthy person.

"Tru?" Tru looked up at the pink-eyed sorceress who gestured for her to keep up; she didn't have to be told twice. The two of them traveled down the hall, Jenny pulled out her cell phone and dialed in a number, she waited for two rings then the chauffer on the other line picked up, "Hello? It's Jenny … yeah, come around the back, and make it quick we're on a time crunch."

With that she put her cell away and Tru sighed heavily, "So, how long are you going to keep this up?"

Jenny arched a brow and glanced down at the ten year old, "Huh?"

"My brother told me about your plan to switch sides … so how long are you going to be a publicist?"

"Oh … that …" Jenny frowned, "James told you about me?"

"My brother tries not to keep secrets from me."

"Funny, he seems the type to keep a lot of secrets."

"From you maybe … but even if he tried, he couldn't from me … I know him too well, so how long are you going to keep it up?"

"…" Jenny shrugged, "Dunno … I guess only time will tell."

Tru nodded and left it at that, silently complying with everything else Jenny told her to do as they went off on their voyage to the Villa. The home of the famous James Jax and her brother … Tru, was not thrilled, and neither was she impressed when she saw the Villa. Honestly, it wasn't anything she hadn't seen before … some houses she's been to were bigger, grander, and far more stylish.

Although, the only thing they had in common was that empty feeling of loneliness, and cold indifference. No warmth, no love, no nothing … she just hoped her brother's place – though a front – had some warmth. The car drove around the driveway and stopped at the stairs; Jenny stepped out and helped Tru out as well. The wind blew, and took with it an ocean breeze; the trees that the Villa was nestled in rustled its leaves. The gray rocky gravel she stepped on crunched under her feet, and a shiver went down her spine.

Mistaken for being cold, Jenny wrapped her arms around her and led her up the stairs and into the house to wait for her brother's arrival. That was when Jinx's cell phone rang; Jinx answered it expecting it to be X, "Hey, you on the road already? We're here waiting and – Giovanni? … Uh … yeah, we found him, do you want them back to complete the – oh you did? Well, I'm sorry to hear that … uh-huh, and what do you want with her? … I don't know, I have to find out what she thinks of it. … Bye."

She hung up and Tru, perched on the stairs, sitting around the middle steps watched her facial expressions carefully as she fiddled with her Blackberry. With a curious tilt of her head, she asked, "So what's going on?"

Jinx looked up at her and shrugged, "Ah, your brother and Rae's photo shoot was canceled … but … Rae's scheduled for another shoot with another company … apparently her look spreads and she's not even a pro yet."

Tru tilted her head to the other side and scoffed, "It's Giovanni you're working with, with connections like his you're bound to get noticed somewhere."

"You know about Giovanni too? Did X tell you about him?"

"No, Felix told me."

Jinx arched a brow, "Who's Fe –" her phone rang again, but this time she checked the caller, and this time it really was X, she answered it with a huff, "Where are you guys?"

Without having to look, Jinx could already see X rubbing his eyes, and tiredly leaning against the far side of the town car away from Raven, _"We're on our way back … is Tru alright?"_

"Yeah, she's fine, but, listen, I need you to put Raven on the line, I need to ask her something."

"_What? You plotting against me like you put that homing device on me?"_

"Hey, it saved your dumb ass didn't it? Going up against a vampire and living to tell the tale isn't exactly something you take lightly, you're lucky you didn't get yourself killed, or worse! Exposed!"

"_Right … well … what do you need to ask the Titan?"_ There was a strong hint of attitude in his tone, and Jinx couldn't help to grin when she could just picture the both of them glaring at one another.

X with a look that said: _'What.'_

Raven with a glare that replied: _'Don't try me.'_

Jinx giggled and shook her head, "Well if she's still got enough courage in her to work with a friend of Giovanni's."

"_Huh?"_

"Giovanni canceled the five page spread, he's gonna run with what he got … oh, and he called in a favor for a friend that wants Raven," Jenny giggled playfully, "You know, James, it looks like Rae Roth is becoming a bigger star than you … I think I should get myself a new client."

"_Whatever …"_

"_No."_

Jinx blinked at the sudden transition between X and Raven, she frowned, "No what? I never asked you anything yet?"

"_X had the phone on speaker, I heard every word. And no I'm not going back to another photo shoot … that's not my job."_

"But you're pretty damn good at it, you're already getting requests."

"_I thought you said it was a favor?"_

"Yeah, but Giovanni isn't exactly a cheap guy. He owes anyone a favor he will damn sure deliver."

"_Whatever, it's not going to happen."_

"You sure?"

"_Yep –"_

"_Hold on …"_ X came back on line, _"Which friend is it? Winston? Or Stephen?"_

"Neither, names Gregorio… why? I've never heard of him, you?"

"_Ah … Gregorio…"_

Jinx smirked and propped a fist on her hip, "Sounds like you got a problem with him."

"_Yeah I got a problem with him, he's the friend that's supposed to be watching after Tru … speaking of which, put her on the line, I have to know what the hell happened."_

Tru blinked slowly as Jinx's gaze shifted over to her, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what they were talking about the moment Jinx mentioned Dodger's name. Rolling her red eyes, she held out her hand and Jinx put the phone in it, lazily putting the phone to her ear she mumbled, "I ran away."

X wasted no time in getting to the point, _"Why?"_

"I can't exactly study when party after party is thrown at his place now can I?"

"_Then where the hell were you staying after that?"_

"…" Tru frowned, her eyes narrowed and shifted off to the side to stare through the bars of the stairway rails, "… You wouldn't like it if I told you."

"_Didn't know my opinion mattered much to you anymore, now where were you?"_

"I was at Tiffany's."

"…"

"… See, I told you, you wouldn't like it."

"_Grr … at least you were safe … or not, how did the vamp get a hold of you?"_

"I … ran from her to …"

"_Damnit Tru!"_

Tru shot up from the stairs and argued with flaming cinnamon eyes, "It was only to help you! I had to tell you that I heard from Jaquie, that a clan was after your head, mines, and Felix's!"

"_And you couldn't pick up a phone to tell me this why?"_

"I …" Tru gritted her teeth and admitted reluctantly, "… I was worried … I got as far as Felix … but by the time I got close to you, I was caught."

Raven came on the other line, _"I don't like where this is headed … what kind of clan are we talking about here? Vampire?"_

Tru scoffed, "Lesser immortals would be so much easier for us to deal with, but no, it's the Cross Clan … you're apart of the Disciplinary Agency, do the math."

"_Demons?" _Raven honestly sounded shocked and confused, but she wasn't talking to Tru, she was talking to X, _"Just what do you get yourself into that involves Immortals of their degree?"_

"_None of your business."_

"_On the contrary, everything you do from here on out is my business."_

"_Whatever,"_ X set his attention back on Tru, _"Listen, I'll talk to you when I get there, just, whatever it is you do, don't runaway!"_

Tru rolled her eyes, "Sure … whatever."

There was a click on the other line, X had hung up, and Tru sighed, hanging up Jinx's phone and handing it back to the amused sorceress. Tru turned on her heel and marched upstairs to find a room that'll be deemed as hers for the remainder of her time with her brother.

--

X flipped his phone shut and sat back, Raven, who had shifted from her place to sit closer to him in order to get in on the conversation, leaned back and nailed him with a dark look, "A deal is a deal X, you said if I helped Tru, you'd cooperate with me, keeping things hush-hush isn't exactly my idea of cooperation."

He growled and shook his head, agitation, and frustration quite evident in his amber eyes that stared off into space while he snapped back sardonically, "Maybe there're just some aspects of my life that I'd like to keep to myself, anything involving Tru being one of them."

"Well it looks like it's not going to matter much considering the fact that whatever is happening to you is reaching out and attacking those around you." Raven stated with a not so nice look on her face, she scooted away from him, crossed her arms over her chest and slowly shook her head. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to let the demons out with her next subject while on the matter of discussing X's position, "… I have to talk to Robin …"

"You've been talking to him without my permission so far, why bother to ask now?" He scoffed sarcastically.

Raven sneered, "I wasn't asking permission … I was just letting you know. It's called professional courtesy."

"Didn't know there was such a thing between enemies."

"I'm not your enemy … not right now," Raven admitted through gritted teeth, reluctantly and distastefully, "… You're life is more important to me than your petty crimes. Robin can stress over what's to be done with you, but the fact is black and white … Immortals mean you harm, and as a DA, I can't allow that to go on."

He slowly turned his head to stare at her with that familiar look of reevaluation, as if he's seen her in a new light. His amber eyes glinting like curious gold coins wondering if what she said was true, that he was to be her precious treasure not to be shared with anyone. He blinked, then arched a brow and snorted, muttering, "You just never quit do you … the frickin' energizer bunny."

Raven rolled her eyes, "Call me whatever you want, I'm just doing my job."

"But that's the point!" He suddenly exclaimed, but not argumentatively, he shifted in his seat so he was facing her, his golden eyes a light with passionate emotions. It overwhelmed Raven, but she held her composure and listened as he continued, "Don't you ever take a damn break? You know, a vacation, play hookie every once in awhile … there is no way you can love your job that much."

"I never said I loved it, I do what I have to, because it's right."

"…" his gazed burned with intensity, he was trying to see into her soul, Raven didn't like it.

"Stop it."

He blinked, "What?"

She growled, "That."

He was still confused, "What?"

"I'm not to be an object of curiosity; you analyze me you're in for a world of trouble."

X tilted his head, and Raven couldn't stop herself from grimacing when she recognized that look of sudden intrigue and realization. Whatever he found out about her, Raven knew she wasn't going to like the outcome, especially when he smirked and scooted closer to her, "What's the matter? Don't like anyone getting too close?"

Raven narrowed her eyes in warning, if she was a kitten she'd be hissing, "You want a death wish?"

"I don't know." He shrugged innocently enough, and scooted ever closer, like a curious cat wanting to know if the kitty would play with him, "Would you loosen up and let me in your head if I said I would die tomorrow?"

She sneered, "Call the Make-a-Wish Foundation."

X laughed shook his head, "Cold."

"One of my more attractive qualities," Raven scooted against the door to get away from him; their legs were already touching from hip to knee, it was bothering her.

Though not as much as his hot breath on her skin when he whispered huskily into her ear, the bangs of his hair brushing against her forehead sending involuntary shivers down her spine, as she felt him undress her with his eyes, "Among other things."

She took a chance and turned to face him with their close proximity, she could make out every fine detail of his irises; the chance of dodging him had become nonexistent. He trapped her in a cage, one of his arms wrapped around her set behind her head, and the other stretched out in front of her against the door. Purposefully giving her that enclosed feeling of prey knowing they were about to die, but this predator was sadistic.

He wanted to see her squirm.

Fair play maybe considering the fact that her very being around him unnerved him … she was a Titan that could put him away for life.

He wanted to see if she could be as unnerved as him … and so far … it looked like he found his advantage.

Despite her dark glare, he knew she wasn't comfortable with their position, it showed in her rigid posture, afraid to move or else literally rub him the wrong way, "Back off, or get thrown off."

He chuckled, "Kitty got claws."

She scoffed, "I am not joking, get off, or I'll scratch your eyes out."

"You weren't complaining at the Stardust Lounge."

"Different time, different place, different situation …"

His smirk grew into a grin, he pulled away from her, but not before blowing into her ear and watching her eyes widen a fraction of an inch as an visible shiver wracked her body. She cringed and breathed a little easier when his warm slide away from her. Now at the far side of the car, quite satisfied he managed to get to the little witch. X lazily leaned back against his chair and watched the world fly by out the window, acting as if noting ever happened with that damned smirk on his face.

Raven blew up a strand of hair that fell over her eyes, crossed her legs, leaned on her door and crossed her arms in a dark pout. An ominous cloud looming over her head as she tapped her fingers on her arm, trying to forget she was stuck in a car ride with a thief that could very well change his mood as fast as the winds could change directions. Running her fingers through her hair, she sighed quietly to herself, and chewed on her lower lip, fiddling with her belt spinning her communicator, she tapped on it for a few seconds then growled. _It has to be done … _

With that thought she unscrewed the t-com, and flipped it open, X beside her watched with an arched brow as she contacted her leader. Not in video, but in speaker, _"Yeah, Robin here … go a head Raven."_

"Robin … this assignment has taken a turn for the unusual."

"_What do you mean?"_

"… Immortals are involved, and I'm starting to think the death of the girl from the museum was an accident, she was probably at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"_Okay … it sounds to me like you're onto something … and by the way; James and Jenny are clean, nothing unusual with their backgrounds."_

Raven scoffed, "That's where you'd be wrong, James has more to do with it than you think … but under the circumstances, I can't give you all my information. Listen very carefully Robin, because I am asking you to trust me here."

"_Are you in trouble?"_

"No … I just need you to get into contact with a man called Bastian Santiago, once you do, tell him Raven said to hype up security in the city and keep you posted on any suspicious movements within the demonic community and the angelic. They have to sense something is going on as well."

"… _Raven … do you know who X is?"_

X couldn't help to chuckle, _Sharp kid, never misses a beat._

Raven shot him a dark look, "… I … do … but like I said, under the circumstances I can't release too much information."

"_Why not?"_

"A civilian's life is at stake, as a DA I can't run the risk of too much mortal involvement … I'm sorry … but I will keep in contact."

"…"

"… Robin?"

"_Argh … alright, alright … I trust you Raven … good luck."_

"Thanks." She ended the transmission, and screwed it back on her belt, while X once again tilted his head to stare at her with intrigue, she glared at him resentfully.

X just snickered, "Damn … I knew the both of you were tight, but to be able to pull his strings without so much as an argument? That's talent."

Raven gritted her teeth, "He trusts me."

"I'll say … you know my identity, tell him you know, but don't tell him anything … now that's what I call the ultimate suspense. He's probably going crazy as we speak."

"…"

For the remainder of the ride, Raven kept to herself, and so did X, though still amused over her little conversation with her leader, he couldn't help to be impressed as well. She was one helluva smooth operator to play both fields calm and cool under pressure; he could imagine why Robin put so much faith in her. Despite her unwillingness to do a lot of things asked of her, she gets the job done in the most quick and efficient way possible.

Made him suspicious, because it could mean she knows more than she's letting him on to. Like being a Disciplinary Agent … hell, X never ever knew such a thing existed, sure he knew there were laws the Immortals followed, but he didn't know there were law-_enforcers_ on their side of the tracks. Made him wonder how the hell he got away with so much without getting caught? Was it because he was that good … or did their side think he wasn't significant enough to bother with.

Either way worked for him.

In a matter of time the two of them finally arrived at the Villa, in utter silence they entered through the front door and was greeted by Jinx's smiling face leaning over the rail of the second floor. She winked at the both of them, "Hey, glad to see you two didn't tear each other a part on the way up."

X chuckled, "Hello to you to Jinx."

Raven immediately made for the stairs while X headed for the kitchen to grab something to snack on, but paused for a second, "Hey, where's Tru?"

Jinx gestured across the way to the other side of the Villa, "She's in her room … oh, and Raven, are you sure you don't want to –"

Raven interjected before she could finish the question, "Yes."

"But you were –"

"Don't care."

"Aw, come on, it's a single –"

"No."

"But you agreed on the last –"

"I said _no_."

Jinx scoffed, "Stale."

Once upstairs, Raven headed towards Tru's room, Jinx arched a brow in curiosity, but didn't say anything, only rolled her eyes, _Probably going to interrogate the poor thing. _She thought with another scoff as she leapt from her perch down to the first floor to go grab her own bite to eat with X, and to confront him about their current situation. Like it or not, she _was _aiming to become a Titan … might as well start acting the part, after all, how hard can I be?

X was her friend.

He could trust her to tell only the vitals and not the personals.

He knew that … right?

It was hard to tell … they both had a criminal mind set when it came to calculating the pros and cons … and Jinx knew X was no push over.

He wasn't crowned the Prince of Thieves for nothing in her book.

**--**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Teen Titans, DC owns them … but Tru, Felix, and Bastian are mine**

**A/N: Okay … we're getting somewhere … and I think you all already got a hold on who Felix is, but if you don't, well we'll be finding out the truth next chapter that gave me a damn headache trying to decide if I should run with the start of it. Ugh … it's always within the 8, 9, 10 and sometimes 11 chapters I hit a road block. So I apologize a head of time if the story seems to be going no where … but I'm fairly confident I got things under control … I think …**

**shrugs we'll all find out L8er daez ;)**


	9. Work For It

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Work For It**

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

Tru looked up from reading her book; she blinked, then called out, "It's unlocked."

She expected it was her brother, but no, it was the other girl … probably the undercover Titan. Tru closed her book and placed it on her bed, sitting up, she watched the rather intimidating young woman glide across her floor to stand before her. Observing her room briefly before setting her strong violet eyes on her … and the book she had been reading. A delicate brow slowly rose up to hide beneath a cowlick of blue-black hair, and intrigue crossed her beautiful face. Tru glanced down at her two inch thick book, red with elegant intricate designs all along the corners and the center.

There was no title to the book no real beginning or end … and justly it shouldn't.

It was a tome.

A fire-tome to be exact … Tru lifted it up and clutched it close to her chest as Raven stepped closer to her and sat beside her on the edge of the bed, "So … you're studying to become a mage …"

Tru frowned, she never told anyone about her little secret of practicing magic … she thought not even her brother knew … apparently she was wrong. Casting her eyes downward to stare intensely at her bed sheets, she shrugged and held the book closer to her chest, "… I wouldn't exactly say that … I'm not … good enough yet …"

Raven tilted her head, and Tru looked up at her through her eyelashes, as the elder sorceress asked, "Well, what do you know so far? Can you ignite a flame?"

"… Not without assistance …" Tru admitted reluctantly, fishing into her pocket she pulled out a lighter and scoffed when she remembered her brother catching her playing with _his_ lighter a long time ago. He freaked out so bad he nearly fell off the balcony and from then on he swore of cigarettes for life. Who would have thought it would start her on her own obsession … fire.

With the lighter in her hand she flicked the flame on, her cinnamon eyes burning with as much desire as the hot flame that danced before her. Without so much as a glance down, she flipped open the tome to the page that'll give her the power to manipulate the lick of fire and tearing her eyes from the heat she read off the tome in a language not of Earth. The flame on the lighter took on a form of a tiny fire sprit dancing, and twirling in such naïve delight that it seemed almost innocent.

This continued on, until finally after five minutes, Tru couldn't keep it up and she sighed tiredly. The magic dissipated, the sprit died, and she snapped the book shut, her brows furrowed together, and she gritted her teeth in frustration. Raven nodded in understanding, "Well, I'll tell you this much, you've gotten further than most students without an escort could have … how did you get the book?"

"…" Tru shrugged again, this time at a loss for what to say. After all, this woman was supposed to collar X … she didn't want to add onto the bad rep she knew her brother already accumulated without her assistance, "Ah … James gave it to me … he … uh … found it."

Raven inwardly sneered, but outwardly she scoffed silently to herself, "Okay, well … do you know how to read all the angles of the book?"

"Angles?"

"I'm assuming you know that tomes have neither an end nor a beginning … as I'm sure you've noticed most of the texts don't exactly follow the striped lines. It actually means something, how you should pronounced some words, how much concentration you have to pour into it, and if you get good enough how to direct an attack on a particular object. Right now, you're on the manipulation stage, meaning you can't create fire without the help of an inanimate object, like you're lighter."

Tru soaked it all in, but not without some skepticism, "Okay … but … why are you telling me all this?"

Raven wasn't afraid to tell her the truth, "Because I promised your brother I'd help you further your skill in tome-reading, in return he cooperates with me."

Cinnamon eyes shot her a dry look, "Gee, it's always nice to feel helpful."

"Feels good doesn't it?" Raven responded with a dry tone of her own, Tru rolled her eyes, but got comfortable and waited for her lessons to commence. If Raven was going to teach her to get better in return for something from her brother who was she to question such an awesome deal. The only one that'll be losing in the long run is her brother, but for now everyone got what they wanted.

Raven was off of X's back, Tru was getting some lessons, and Raven was assured her assistance from the other side of life.

Meanwhile …

Jinx casually strolled into the kitchen, watching as X rummaged through the stainless-steeled fridge looking for anything to snack on. He found it in a whole container full of gapes, he kicked the door closed and leaned on the island, opened the container, picked a plump grape, threw it in the air and caught it in his mouth. Chewing, he sighed, a little more relaxed now that Raven was no where in sight, but narrowed his eyes when he spotted Jinx just watching him while leaning against the counter beside the entrance door.

"Can I help you?" He asked with a dryness that indicated he was in no mood to talk.

Jinx didn't care, of course, she never cared if she wanted something bad enough, she shrugged, "I don't know if you can … I mean … keeping things from me isn't exactly helping me …"

X dropped his head, mumbled a few choice words under his breath and pushed the grapes away to really lean on the counter, and pierce Jinx with his gold eyes, "Jinx, don't even start with me right now, you know I can't tell you everything."

She frowned, and then scoffed, "And here I thought we established a bit of trust."

"Trust? Uh, hah, no," X snorted and took another grape, munching on it, he swallowed and chuckled with a shake of his head, "What we have is an arrangement, you scratch my back, I scratch yours kind of thing."

That hurt her a little so he really didn't trust her, Jinx sneered, "Okay than smartass, you think you can handle everything on your own, than go right a head, but the next time a vampire comes chewing on your neck don't come crying to me!"

He arched a brow and shrugged his shoulders, "What the hell's your trip? You act as if _I'm_ the one that put that tracker on you."

"I told you it was for your own good."

"Well, okay, I'm grateful, is that what you wanna hear?"

"Yes! Er – No! I mean …" Jinx growled, clenching her hands into fists, she huffed and in defeat threw her hands into the air, "Argh! The point I'm trying to get to here is you seem to be stuck in some crazy shit that can actually get you killed! I wanna know what the hell you've done: piss off the wrong guy, screwed with the wrong guys' daughter, or just all around in general gave a big 'fuck you' to the big guy upstairs. What did you _do?!"_

X shot her a dry look, "You know what, if I knew that do you really think I'd be risking my ass in the same house as Miss Queen B up there? I don't think so."

Then … the house phone rang.

Both X and Jinx froze, and looked at the phone in the kitchen, waiting in anticipation as if expecting it to go super-nova. They held their breaths and watched as Mr. Hedrick walked into the room, gazed upon the two of them, then back at the ringing phone and scowled, "Don't everyone jump at it at once."

With a jerk he yanked the phone off the hook and answered, "Jax residence, Mr. Hedrick speaking, may I ask who's this? … Mm-hmm … of course, right away sir." Mr. Hedrick tossed the phone to X who caught it and shot the old man a quizzical look; he answered the unasked question, "It's a Mister Jaxon."

Jinx arched a brow and looked at X, "Relation?"

X just growled and waved her off, as he put the phone to his ear, and snapped into the receiver, "What."

"_Boy, just how much damn trouble are you going to get yourself in?! Do I have to personally escort the Titans to your ass so they can lock you away for your own goddamn good?!"_

"Shut-up! You're not my fuckin' father, so stop acting like it."

"_Somebody has to considering the fact you nearly got Tru killed – again!"_

"How the hell do you kn – you know what, never mind I asked. Knowing you, you probably got cameras stationed all around the damn city just to watch me."

"_You're reckless, irresponsible, and a complete imbecile! And if I wasn't so damn sure you can live up to your reputation I would have had you institutionalized a long time ago."_

"If you called just to nag I'm hanging up."

"_You're not hanging up this phone, because your clueless little contestant winner has to take up Gregorio's offer."_

"Why?"

"_Because Theo Cross will be there, and she's expecting your presences."_

X scoffed and took another bite of his grapes while Jinx moved around the counter and pressed her ear against the phone, trying to listen. X shoved her away, but she glared at him and leaned close. Stealing some of his grapes while secretly using a minor eavesdropping spell to listen in, X knew her game, and was quickly wracking his brain to keep his secret a secret, she already knew about Tru. She didn't need to know about the one on the other line.

He growled and responded in a tight tone, "I thought she was into Marz now?"

There was a chilling chuckle on the other line, _"But you'll always be her first."_

X shuddered as an uncomfortable chill raced down in spine at the memory.

"_Besides, Tiff tells me that she's been talking to Jaquie quite a bit, been asking for you or so I hear."_

"Should I be flattered?"

"_Frankly, little brother, I could careless if you were disgusted; you just have to see her and find out why the Cross Clan wants us all dead. So prove to me you're not all talk."_

"I don't have to prove shit to you." With a jerked motion he pulled the phone from his ear and promptly hung up, Jinx with bug eyes and mouth dropped to the floor pointed at him in disbelief. X scowled, "What?"

She exclaimed, "You have a _brother?!"_

He held up his hands in mock defense, "Hey, if it's a crime, don't charge me with it."

Jinx rushed him and grabbed his shirt and shook him, "X! You have a brother _too?!_ And you didn't even tell _ME?!_ How could you? Just how many other family members do you _have _out there in the world?!"

"None other!" he pushed her off, annoyed he straightened out his polo shirt and scoffed, smoothing back his messy hair, he ended up messing it back up when he furiously ruffled it up in agitation, "Damn it … she is not going to make this easy …"

Still a bit freaked that X had a brother out there somewhere, she managed to shake herself out of it to ask coherently, "Who? Raven?"

X sneered, "Who else?"

"I don't know, I thought you were talking about that Theo chick … or Tiffany, or even Jaquie … who are they by the way?"

Still annoyed X sighed heavily and grudgingly walked around the island to speak to Raven … figuring that he might as well tell the full story since they were bound to find out sooner than later, "Eh … Theo was a … fling … and before you ask, yes she is human … Remington Cross adopted her because his wife wanted a human child. Immortals are just weird that way I guess. Tiffany is my brother's wife, but you'll never guess because they live separate lives, their marriage is one of convenience, and Jaquie is just Tiff's younger sister, around Tru's age, nosey as fuck."

Jinx paused when a thought crossed her, "So … this Felix, is your brother …"

"Yep, and the one funding my whole charade."

Jinx smirked, "Ha, I kind of figured the money had to be coming from somewhere."

"Laugh all you want, he's a pain in the ass," he said with a growl as he swung around the rail and casually strolled down the hall towards Tru's room, leaving Jinx standing at the stairs. Not exactly thrilled about trying to convince Raven she had to model … again.

Within the little Tru's room, Raven had Tru recite a paragraph from the tome three times before she attempted to manipulate a flame from a lighter into a bigger fire sprit. It was within this exercise did Raven teach Tru how to center all her thoughts and block out the world. She learned fast, Raven will give her that, because when the door opened and creaked, she never stirred. Raven made a mental note to teach her to become more in touch with her surroundings later as she directed her gaze onto the silent thief that snuck into the room.

Before he could come any closer, Raven uncrossed her legs, stood up from her spot on the couch and stood close to him to stop him from proceeding. In a low whisper she informed him, "She's meditating … I'll speak to you outside."

"Meditating?" he arched a brow and tried to glance over her to his sister, but Raven put her in the corner of the room, facing the wall to help her block out the world, "She sounds more like she's chanting."

"In her case, it's the same thing … out," she shoved him back and they exited the room, this time with the help of Raven's power to keep the door from creaking. Closing the door without so much as a _click_ she crossed her arms over her chest. She narrowed her eyes on the thoughtful thief who leaned against the far wall and ran his fingers through his hair, Raven flicked hers over her shoulder and got straight to the point, "What do you want?"

X followed her lead, "You need to go to Gregorio's shoot."

Raven scowled, "_'Need' _why do I _need_ to do anything for you?"

"You know Theo Cross?"

Raven frowned at the mention of the human girl's name … that girl caused more problems within the strict boundary lines than X when it came to prying information from his mouth. Like pulling teeth, she sighed and shrugged, "What about her?"

"She's asked for me …" he trailed and let her figure out the rest.

She wasn't stupid, she sneered, "And you want me to go to the shoot, so you can talk to her, and get some more information on why the Cross Clan want you, your sister, and your brother's head."

X nodded, "Yep …" he froze, "Hold on, how'd you know I had a brother? I didn't say anything."

Raven jerked her head to the door, "Your sister is a sweet girl … once you sit down and talk to her."

"… She told you?"

She nodded and chewed on her tongue as she slid her hands to her hips, smoothing down her sweater, she turned to reenter the room, but she paused and asked, "When is the shoot?"

"… In three days … so … you're going?"

"Like I have a choice anymore … it's better than sitting around waiting for something to happen." With that she opened the door and went back inside, to see Tru already trying to control the fire sprit that had grown from an inch in height, to a cute Barbie size. X, out of sheer curiosity walked in after Raven as the sorceress nodded in acknowledgement, "Maintain consistency Tru, with each change in pitch it will dance faster or slower."

X smirked, honestly impressed his sister could do something he thought was impossible, "Heh, why tell her to keep consistency, when she can make it do different things."

"Because reading a tome is like singing a song, if you're out of tune something could go horribly wrong … stay constant Tru," Raven sat on the bed, just watching Tru, but frowned when a spark jumped from the sprit's dance threatening to light the house on fire. She leaned back on the bed and reached over to the other side to see where the flame was slowly coming to life and with her power she put it out.

In the process her sweater hiked up dangerously high up her thigh, whether or not she was aware of it, didn't very much concern X when he made the observation that if he tilted his head in the right angle he would be able to see London, _and _France. It didn't help that her stretched out arm and all her twisting and moving hiked it up even further. Slyly glancing at Tru, noticing that she had her nose almost literally in the book trying to concentrate, he swiftly crossed the room, and before Raven knew what hit her, her eyes widened.

Her breath caught in her throat, and her heart stopped when his hand brushed against her inner thigh, on instinct her legs snapped tightly shut. Trapping his hand in between her thighs, in a deathlike grip her hand held his wrist to stop him before he could go any higher. Looking up at him with her mouth agape and big bug-eyes, she was honestly at a lost for what to say or do when he smirked and wiggled his hand out from between her thighs.

The motion sent an involuntary hot chill racing from the nerves in her legs through out her body. Then, with his freed hand he grabbed the hem of her sweater, whispering devilishly, "I like to work for it princess …"

With the hem in his hand he pulled her sweater down, making sure to brush his knuckles slowly against her flesh while he gently peeled her fingers off his wrist, then, altogether extracted himself from her. Raven, with her face going completely red, and still at a loss of words, blinked, then closed her eyes and shook her head and scowled. Under her breath, so Tru wouldn't hear she cursed X, "Bastard."

It was in that moment did Tru sigh tiredly and plop down on the carpet, "Ugh … I'm tired …"

She looked up at Raven waiting for further instructions, but she tilted her head and arched a brow when she found the sorceress sliding herself further on the bed. Thus, further away from her brother who had on that familiar smirk of victory and smug satisfaction, she blinked when her brother directed is heated golden eyes at her. He then smiled and said with false sweetness, "Say something Tru?"

Tru frowned and furrowed her brows, she shot a pointed look at Raven who straightened herself out and climbed back on her feet, on the _other_ side of the bed, _far _from her brother. Now, Tru was far from stupid, she knew more than the average upper-class teenager in high school, however, that was all book smarts. Street smarts were her brother's specialty … and with that came body language, and many, many more trivial fun facts that _somehow_ kept him alive though his years.

With her mouth opened for an answer her words fell short when Raven instructed her to do something strange, "Tru … turn around."

Tru blinked, "Huh?"

Violet eyes locked on the smug thief, Raven repeated with carefully weighed calmness, "Turn … around …"

Still a little at a loss, Tru rolled her eyes, sighed heavily and turned around, "I really don't see the point in –"

"_AH!"_ she spun back around when she heard her brother cry out, but wasn't fast enough to see a blast of black energy throw him out of the room, slam him against the far wall of the hallway, and finally slam the door shut. Raven sighed, agitation clearly evident on her face as she rubbed the side of her head to keep a headache at bay.

Tru looked to her with narrowed eyes, "What happened?"

"You're brother was being an asshole," Raven growled, trying to suppress the red tint on her cheeks and cool off the heat on the rest of her body, especially the tingle between her legs. She flopped back on the bed, and rubbed her legs together in uneasiness; a tremble shook through her body a bit because she could still feel his warm, large hand pressed tightly between her thighs. She gritted her teeth, _Stop it! _Her hands wouldn't stop trembling, so she tried to keep from moving them in Tru's sights as she cleared her throat and furthered Tru's instructions.

--

"What the hell?" After she heard the loud _thump_ followed by an even louder _SLAM_!Jinx had come rushing out of her room, only to find X chuckling to himself as he picked himself up off the ground, Jinx stood still for a second, then sneered, "Do I even want to know what happened?"

X looked up, his amber eyes sparkling in amusement, he laughed and shook his head, "God, she is just too much fun to mess with …"

Jinx frowned, "You mean Raven. You know, screwing around isn't exactly going to earn you extra points with her."

His eyes danced mischievously, "So you say … heh, I think she got a little more fire in her than most people would give her credit for."

Jinx shook her head, but despite the negative action she couldn't help a small smirk forming on her lips at the thought of seeing _'Miss Queen B'_ as X so preciously dubbed her melt into a puddle at the thief's feet. She chuckled, her catty pink eyes glaring at him playfully, but warningly, "Watch yourself X … that girl ain't afraid to whack you out of the park if you push her to hard."

"Oh, believe me," he chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, remembering just how hard she threw him out of the room, "I know."

**--**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans DC does, I own Tru and Mr. Hedrick though, they are mine, all mine! **

**A/N: Yah! Another update, send me some feedback and I'll see what I can do about the next chapter, that is if it stops behaving like such a brat and cooperate with me. :)**

**L8er daez **


	10. Genuine

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Genuine**

Flash of red …

Splash of blood …

Fear …

Then a blood-curtailing scream … and with a gasp she shot up and out of her deep slumber.

The screaming still echoing within the darkness of her mind, slowly fading to memory, with her heart still pounding, her pulse still racing, Raven jerked the sheets off her bare body. In nothing but her underwear she welcomed the cool air's relentless kisses upon her heated flesh, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed; she hunched over and buried her face within the palms of her hands. _The second night … the second time she's had that same nightmare … _she sighed heavily, and tiredly.

Raven sucked in a deep breath, sat up, and looked at her door with a frown … gritting her teeth, she jumped out of bed, and went over to her drawer. Dressing herself in an oversized black t-shirt that had its collar cut off so it hung over and exposed her left-shoulder, Raven smoothed back her hair into a pony-tail, and proceeded out her room. Tru's room was on the same floor as hers, so it shouldn't be a problem getting there without waking anyone up, or worrying about anyone seeing her state of dress.

The cold polished wooden flooring sent new shivers down her spine with every step she made towards the little girl's room. It never bothered Raven, she was adamant about getting to the bottom of Tru's nightmares. They were just too intense, too wracked with pain, suffering, and … death … for a little girl to be dreaming about. In all honesty, it worried Raven … after the first night she wondered if X knew about his sister's nightmares.

Though, she never got the chance to ask because all yesterday, he was conveniently _'busy'_ locked in his study.

So she took it upon herself to ask Tru about it – no point in beating around the bush – and for a little girl she really knew how to play the evasive game. Before Raven knew it, she had talked circles around her, and they were discussing something as irrelevant as her escapades with the Teen Titans. Raven had to give the girl props for that.

She knew how to work the corners.

Although, Raven should have suspected as much, after all, Tru couldn't have been X's sister and not pick up a thing or two about evasion.

Raven found herself mentally rolling her eyes at the thought as she reached Tru's room. She put her hand on the door knob, but gasped and pulled back when it twisted on its own accord and the door slowly creaked open. Shocked gold, met bewildered violet, but X was the fastest to recover with a quick tilt of his head a look of confusion crossed his face, "What the hell you doing here?"

Raven backed up to allow him room to slide out of Tru's room and quietly shut the door; she narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Checking on Tru … I'm assuming you're doing the same …?"

She sounded skeptical, and X blinked then shrugged and answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Duh, I do every night to make sure she's okay … she's been having nightmares since our mother's death."

"…" he said it so casually it made Raven uncomfortable, she was honestly at a loss for words … really … what do you say … how do you respond to something like that? She's been around people far worse off, of course, but those were different … those were her friends that she allowed herself to connect with on a personal note. X, wasn't a friend. He wasn't even an acquaintance that she could just brush off with the bland robotic response of: _'Oh, I'm so sorry …'_ and then pretend to care while they explained away their sob story.

No … he wasn't a friend, he wasn't an acquaintance, but he was an important enough person for her to actually take interest in whatever personal information he divulged with her. Thus, the reason for her stupid-lack of words, and her even lamer reply, "So you know she has nightmares?"

He shot her a dry look, "Yeah, I've dealt with them for the longest time … what are you doing up?"

Well, at least one of them still had a brain to come up with better questions, Raven sighed heavily for the second time that night and shrugged, "Tru's nightmares are so intense it's waking me up … like I said I just wanted to check on her."

"Oh, well she's fine, sleeps like a baby after someone comforts her."

Comfort … that one word caught Raven's attention, and with that came an interesting image: X, the ruthless thief cradling his sister in his arms, rocking her and reassuring her that there were no more monsters. Telling her that he'll protect her no matter what … Raven didn't know whether to be amused at the thought, or intrigued. Did the infamous ultimate-bad-boy have a soft side? It was something to think about … or not, Raven threw the thought out of her mind the moment it formed.

X's personality wasn't something she was interested in.

Or at least, she _shouldn't _be interested in.

Raven blinked slowly, then glanced down the hall and nodded, "Well, if she's okay …" she let it trail and proceeded to walk back to her room.

X silently followed in step.

His golden eyes glowing within the quiet, comfortable darkness they shared, curiously he glanced down at her and arched a brow when he noticed there was something on her back. Something red … and crossed … a giant smirk found it's way on his lips and he nearly burst out laughing, but kept his cool, "Well now … didn't know I had a fan."

Raven stopped and shot him confused look, "Huh?"

He gestured to the back of her shirt, his eyes bearing down on her with a heated darkness Raven didn't like, "X marks the spot I guess …"

Raven moved her hair and pulled at her shirt to see what the hell he was talking about and her mouth slowly cracked open, her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment when she finally understood what he meant. _Damn it Beast Boy … I'll kill you … I swear to whatever God you pray to, I'll kill you …_ she thought as she bowed her head and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

An excuse to keep her face hidden from the thief so he wouldn't see her red cheeks as she growled, "We responded to a call at a paint-factory … an emergency I couldn't change into my uniform for … Beast Boy was present, the rest is history."

He chuckled and shook his head, "Well … it looks good on you …"

That damn smirk of his was getting annoying, but damn it all if it didn't look good on him. Add to that, Raven suddenly became aware of the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt, exposing his broad shoulders and chest and his well defined abs that begged for her to touch just to feel if they were as hard as they looked. Damn if she wasn't so sure of her sexuality, she was now. Don't get her wrong, she's seen guys without their shirts off, hell; Robin and Speedy prance around without them when they're training. They looked good enough to eat too … but none of them had the balls enough to throw passes her way.

X on the other hand was an entirely different story.

Raven narrowed her eyes and threw her hair back over her shoulder to hide the red x splashed paint on her back, "Well I know what I'll be giving away to the Salvation Army when I get back to the tower."

He just shook his head, "You are somethin' else sunshine."

She didn't response, just continued on her way to her room, passing the stairs that lead to X's chamber, she expected him to leave, but no, he followed her, she sneered, "You following me?"

He shrugged, "Didn't know it was a crime to walk a lady to her room."

"It is if it's considered stalking."

"Not with out harmful intent."

Raven arched a brow.

He winked, "I watch _Law and Order_ to princess, besides that, I already know where you sleep, I don't need to stalk you."

"Right …" Raven sucked in a deep breath, and counted her steps as they crossed the indoor balcony, tempted to throw him over, but kept her sanity and for that she patted herself on the back. Although he was still following her, so she continued to count her steps.

That is, until he spoke up again, all amusement, and jokes thrown out the window, "You know … you never asked how my mother died …"

She closed her eyes and slowed down her pace, her voice losing some of its cold monotone as she shook her head and shrugged, "Figured it was none of my business."

He scoffed, "Bullshit, I know you want to know."

Raven opened her eyes and tilted her head up at him, finally reaching her door; she leaned on it and grabbed the doorknob, but never entered, only stared at him with unreadable eyes, "Okay than, how did she die?"

"She killed herself, sleeping pills … Tru found her on the bathroom floor when she was five."

There it was again, that nonchalance that disturbed her when he spoke about the death of a loved one, Raven frowned, "So that's why she has nightmares."

"Maybe …"

"… And you just don't care, about your mother's death I mean."

"Oh I care …" he snorted, "… the least she could have done was wait till Tru went to school. For three days after she found her, Tru never said a single word."

"Oh …"

"Oh? That's all you got to say?"

"What do you want me to say? _'Sorry?'_ I can't be sorry, because you're the one that brought the subject up, not me."

"I don't know, I figured you'd ask why she did it."

"Don't have to, in your case, it isn't the _'why'_ that's important … it's the _'who's'_. Tru is obviously still trying to get over her, and you … I don't know … you seem detached, like you could careless whether she fell into a ditch and died."

"…"

Raven turned the doorknob; he wasn't saying anything so she walked with the door into her room, silently biding him ado, "Goodnight X."

"I did care …"

She stopped and looked up at his guarded gold eyes.

"I cared a lot … I just didn't expect much from her … grew tired of being disappointed every time she missed my birthday because she had some date with a guy she thought was her prince-charming …" he scoffed, turning his eyes away from her, his hair falling over to help shield the distant look on his face, as he took a trip down memory-lane. Raven watched his jaw tense and clench, knowing that he was probably gritting his teeth at some moment in time that struck a cord in his heart. She sucked in a deep breath, silently, but the motion brought X's attention back to her, and he forced a dry, dark smirk on his lips, "… heh, I guess some people never grow up."

"…" now it was her turn to stand speechless, she moved from the door and played with the knob for a moment. Choosing her words carefully, she licked her lips to respond, but he was quicker.

With a huff and a flick of his wrist he winked at her, "Well, don't get hung up over it, I know I'm not. Night sunshine … see you in the mornin'."

Just like that … like nothing ever happened … like a breeze in the air … he was gone.

Silent as the night he casually strolled down the hall away from her, back to his own room, leaving Raven to stand dumbfounded, and at a loss for words.

A first for her … but then again, there's a first for everything …

--

"Good-morning Raven, have a goodnight sleep?" Jinx asked cheerfully, with a hint of playful teasing.

Raven shrugged and acknowledged her with a nod, "Jinx."

Jinx, with her pink eyes bright and sneaky like they should be her pink hair pulled up into a high ponytail, leaning on the island in the middle of the kitchen. While sitting on a black high stool eating a bright green apple, almost to the core. Jinx smiled at the tired sorceress, who, as best she could, tried not to scowl and snap too much.

What with Tru's nightmare, her conversation with X, and her mind racing with many, many thoughts about it afterwards, needless to say, Raven hardly slept a wink. Who knows, maybe the lack of sleep will get her off the hook at the photo-shoot, but somehow, she highly doubted that when she sensed X enter the kitchen with Tru. Automatically, her violet eyes looked down at Tru, and the little girl yawned and rubbed her cinnamon eyes tiredly while she hopped onto one of the stools.

Tru looked up at her, and she muttered, "Morning …"

Raven nodded and softly replied, "Morning … you remember while I'm gone, you have to read five pages and practice your consistency. No lighters."

She nodded obediently, "I remember."

Without a word, X shoved a bowl of cereal in front of Tru, and without a word Tru picked up her spoon and ate it. Raven, out of sheer reactive response, looked up at him when he asked, "Want anything?"

Honestly, she thought he was talking to Jinx, but he was looking right at her, waiting for a reply. She blinked her violet eyes, arched a curious brow, but slowly shook her head, "No thank you."

His eyes urged her, "You sure?"

She nodded, "Yeah …"

Then he shrugged and continued to look around for something he could grab to bite.

Raven's violet eyes drifted over to Jinx when she felt her aura spike with sudden great interest. The pink-sorceress was in the middle of taking a bite when she saw the interaction and now she seemed frozen with her mouth ajar. She blinked, then shook her head and narrowed her eyes on Raven and X, darting back and forth between the two, "Okay … what's the punch-line, cause I don't get the joke?"

Raven frowned, "What joke?"

"What joke? You and X … you're being _nice_ to each other? When the fuck did that happen?"

Raven's frown darkened, "Language, Jinx, and what are you talking about being nice? All he did was ask if I wanted anything to eat."

Jinx nearly shot out of her seat, "Well, that's the point! He asked _you_, he never asked _me_, and I'm sitting right here!"

X finally joined the circle, "That's because I saw you already had an apple in your hand, what's the point in asking when I know you'll just say you already have something."

With that he bite into the sandwich he made himself and chewed, while Jinx sneered, "Well common courtesy for one! For another, you two have been at each other's throats since two days ago … what, did you two just suddenly have a change of heart over night?"

Raven and X shared, at first, confused glances, that turned into a look of mutual feelings. X shrugged and took another bite of his sandwich, Raven looked away and sighed, "We'll get nowhere if we continue to chew the other out … MAD isn't exactly the best way to handle our situation."

"Mutually Assured Destruction, is sort of a childish way to deal with anything if you think about it," Tru spoke up suddenly, Jinx shot her a dry look, and Tru mimicked her brother's nonchalant response, she shrugged, "don't try to understand them Jinx … I barely even understand my own brother … and I occasionally live with him."

X smirked, "Listen to the kid Jinx, she knows what she's talking about."

Jinx rolled her eyes and reached for her Blackberry when it started to vibrate, "Jenny here, wasup?" Her pink eyes widened a fraction of an inch as it darted back and forth between X and Raven, "Gregorio … well … I'd ask how you got my number, but I'm assuming you got it from Giovanni. Rae? Oh, yeah, she'll be there with James … sorry, but she's pretty much James's responsibly, he has to be there. Okay, got it. Yeah, bye."

She hung up, X asked, "So what time she gotta be there?"

"Later this afternoon … and in the middle of the shoot you'll be interviewed as the girl who went from nothing to something." Jinx leaned back on the stool and sighed, crossing her arms over her chest thoughtfully, she glanced up at Raven and warned, "I gotta warn ya though … the media could twist this into something nasty … you'll probably be perceived as someone just wanting to get up in the world. Or … it'll look like this entire set up is a scam – which it is – but no one has to know you're a Titan, and you're the real Red X."

Raven scoffed, "Let them think, it isn't exactly my job to care what the media spins about non-existent people."

X nodded, "She got a point."

Jinx rolled her eyes, "There you two go again with the being nice and now agreeing with each other." She shrugged in defeat, "Whatever, can't say I'm complaining."

Then …

The doorbell rang.

_DING! DONG!_

--

**Disclaimer: I don't own he Teen Titans, DC does, I do, however, own Tru, and Gregorio**

**A/N: Heh … I'm an evil little bastard aren't I?**

**Review and maybe, just maybe I'll update soon enough, lol.**

**L8er daez**


	11. Tinted

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Tinted**

Everyone froze in the middle of what they were doing and looked amongst themselves, X swallowing his sandwich and narrowing his eyes on Raven and Jinx, "Either of you two expecting anyone?"

They both shook their heads, Jinx asking, "You?"

"No," the three looked at Tru.

The little girl shrugged, "Don't look at me."

_DING! DONG!_

Mr. Hedrick walked into the kitchen from the patio door; he appeared to have been tending to the gardens when he heard the second ring. Sighing tiredly he entered the cool kitchen and paused when he saw everyone gathered around the counter, unmoving when the bell rang for a third time. He shot the occupants a dry look, "You know … I may be the caretaker of this house, doesn't necessarily mean you all should rely on me for everything."

X scowled, "Just answer the damn door Hedrick."

Hedrick snorted, "Rude."

With an upturn of his nose, he marched though the kitchen and towards the door when an urgent knocking began, X, Jinx, and Raven all jumped off their stools and piled along the edge of the entrance to watch Hedrick open the door. With X on the bottom, Raven over him, Jinx on top, Tru glanced at the three of them, rolled her eyes, and shook her head, "Teenagers."

Mr. Hedrick opened the door and was greeted by silky straight midnight blue-black hair that whipped about with the wind when it blew around her beautiful model-like body with all the curves in all the right places. She turned around and flicked her hair over her shoulder out of the way; stylish large brown tinted sunglasses shielded her sensitive, yet stunning jade-green eyes. Her complexion perfectly tan, and with her facial structure one would think she was Latina, but when she took her shades off to expose her jade-green eyes, they were almond in shape, slanted, Asian, exotic.

She smiled at Mr. Hedrick, "Hey there is James Jax here?"

Jinx arched a brow, "Who's she?"

James growled, "Damn it, what the fuck is she doin' here …"

He moved from the bottom of the stack and the sorceresses both jumped off, Raven quickly changing into Rae as James made himself known, "I can take it from here Hedrick."

Mr. Hedrick snorted and muttered as he walked away, "Oh, so _now_ you know how to answer a door?"

James ignored the comment and smiled at the girl who's own smile could rival the morning sun's, she giggled and threw herself at James to grab him in a tight hug, "Oh James I missed you so much!"

"Theo, I thought you were going to be at Gregorio's shoot?"

She pulled away and blushed, "Oh, I was, but I was afraid you wouldn't show up, considering, you know, Tru and all … I mean, Felix already took care of him if you're still mad …"

Raven arched a brow at that little comment, _What does she mean by that I wonder …_

James scoffed, "Trust Felix to get things done at the drop of a dime … come on in."

He stepped aside to allow her in, but he paused and glanced down the steps to the driveway, he frowned when he recognized an older woman, though stunning in her own right with her wavy brown-highlighted hair, she smiled and waved up at James. James cringed, "Oh-no … if she's here, that means …"

Once the woman stepped out, she leaned back into the car and beckoned for a little girl, no older than Tru to step out. The little girl with her shining blue eyes gasped, laughed out loud and raced towards the door, "Uncle Ryan! Uncle Ryan! Uncle Ryan!"

Theo cringed and grabbed the little girl before she could cling onto James, wrapping a hand around her mouth she hissed, "Jaquie! He's not your Uncle anymore, his name is James Jax, _remember?_"

Jaquie ripped herself away from Theo and glared, sassing her back, "Sorry miss thing, I forgot," she stuck her tongue out then turned to James and smiled like a perfect little angel, "Hello James, I missed you."

James smiled a frozen smile, gritting his teeth he prayed to the heavens above that Raven nor Jinx caught that, he should have known that God isn't _that _merciful. Raven did catch it, but she'll let it slide for now. The three newcomers were much more interesting as they walked in, especially the eldest, with her condescending sneer, "James, please, don't smile like that, you look like your brother when you do."

James scoffed, "And you're one to talk."

The woman took off her shades and propped it on top of her head as she smoothed her manicured hands on James's cheek and under his chin, her blue eyes sparkling deviously as she smiled sweetly, "Aw, I love you too little brother."

James sneered and scooted away from her, "I'm not your brother, Tiff."

Mrs. Tiffany Jaxon chuckled and as graceful as a cool breeze sauntered off to the living room with a flick of her wavy brown hair. Theo frowned and stepped up to James, wrapping her arms around his left arm; she leaned her head on his shoulder and cooed, trying to get his attention off Tiffany. She looked up at James and smiled meekly, "You're not mad that I brought them along are you? Tiff just wanted to see how you were doing … and well, Felix sent her down to check if you really did have Tru in your care."

James rolled his eyes and shrugged, "It's alright Theo, if Felix sent her down then she would have come anyway with or without you."

"So … you're really not mad at me?"

James smirked and bowed his head to kiss her forehead, sweeping his hand under her chin to tilt her head up so she could look at him. He gripped onto her hand when she slid hers into his, grinning as he connected his forehead to hers, "It's hard to be mad at you baby-girl."

Theo giggled, blushing beet red.

"Come on," James grinned as he squeezed her hand, "Lets take a walk."

"Okay …"

Tiffany leaned out of the living room and gave Theo a pointed look, "Theo, you two don't go too far, we still have to get to Greg's place for the shoot."

Theo called back as James lead her out the door, "Got it Tiff!"

Back in the kitchen, hidden from the couple, Jenny scoffed, "Fling huh …"

Rae glanced at Jenny quizzically, Jenny gestured at the closed door, "James didn't say? Theo and him had a thing a while back, he was her _'first'_ or that's the story …"

Enlightened, Rae nodded, but other than that kept silent and watched a ball of energy skip in their direction. Jaquie smiled at them both, but as if she owned the house she scooted by them and up to Tru, pulling up her own stool she sat by the cinnamon eyed girl and propped her chin in her palms, "Hey Tru, whatcha eatin'?"

"Cereal," Tru responded dryly, and took another bite.

Jaquie scrunched up her face in distaste, "Bleh … looks soggy … why don't you ask your servant to get you another bowl?"

"Because I'm not finished with this one."

"You don't have to be, what's the point in having a man-servant when you don't put him to good use?"

The moment she asked the question, Mr. Hedrick walked by the two, headed back out into the garden, but paused in mid-step to give the little girl a dark look. The temptation to pick up a frying pan and shoo the child from the kitchen was great, but like a good saint he resisted and promptly walked out the door. Tru, at the corner of her eye caught the look, and the corner of her lips turned up in a grin that would have made her brother proud. Chuckling, she shook her head and turned to Jaquie, "Lyn, really, that's your prerogative."

Jaquie-lyn Giana Dodger tilted her head, "My what?"

Tru rolled her eyes skyward, "Never mind."

Rae and Jenny left the kids to their meanderings and entered the living room where Tiffany was sitting. Legs crossed and reading the latest in the hottest fashion magazine, one that Rae actually recognized was Giovanni's _Chic _… shouldn't she be in that issue? Tiffany looked over her shoulder and smiled at the girls, "Oh, hey! You're Rae right? Love your work with James; you made him look like a prop instead of your partner in crime."

She emphasized her point and held up the magazine.

Jenny snatched it up and looked at the front page, her pink eyes widening and shining, her mouth with an open smile, "Oh … wow … that is amazing …"

In the picture was Rae, sitting on a desk cross-legged, with black plastic glasses in one hand the arm of which was poking in her mouth, her eyes shifted to the side where James was leaning on the same desk. One of his hands behind her, while the other was placed on her leg, Rae frowned, _Oh God … I hope the team doesn't see this … I'll never live it down …_ fat chance of that happening. Starfire – she knew for a fact – reads every fashion magazine there was on the shelves! 

No doubt she'd have grabbed the latest issue.

Rae forced a shy smile, "Wow … I barely even recognize myself."

Tiffany chuckled, "Ah the wonders of photoshop."

Whether that was an insult or compliment, Rae will never know, but Tiffany took her magazine back and continued to read. Jenny chuckled, but didn't continue the discussion with the dark look Rae had shot her; she shrugged innocently enough and walked to the bay window. Taking her seat she glanced out the window and blinked, then gestured for Rae to come sit by her, her pink eyes momentarily drifting to the entrance when Tru and Jaquie walked in. 

Jaquie bounced over to Tiffany and threw herself on the couch next to her. Tiffany put a hand on her lap, "Lyn, sweetie, what did I tell you about jumping around other people's house?"

Jaquie smiled, "Sorry."

Tiffany rolled her eyes, "Goodness, sometimes I feel more like our mother, than your sister, ugh."

"Well it's not my fault mama always leaves me with you," Jaquie pouted, "I'd rather live with James anyway, he's more fun."

"Only because he's hardly ever around and gives you free range of his place." Tiffany looked around, "Speaking of the little devil where is he and Theo? I told them not to go far, they better not be fooling around, we don't have time for that, Greg's place isn't exactly nearby."

Jaquie snickered, "You trust James to keep his hands to himself?"

Tiffany snickered with her sister, "No I don't, but it's not James that I'm worried about." Tiffany glanced to the bay window where Jenny and Rae were both sitting with Tru reading some funny looking book. She called to them, she asked, "Hey, Rae, can you see James and Theo from there?"

Rae looked up and shook her head, "Nope, sorry, I was paying attention to Tru."

Tiffany huffed, "Well that's just spectacular."

Jaquie leaned close to Tiffany, wanting to read what she was reading.

Tru looked up at Rae and whispered, "Why'd you lie? They're just right there …" she pointed out the window into the trees were James and Theo were walking down a path that she knew lead to their privet beach.

Rae watched them with unreadable eyes, and patted the top of Tru's head, "James needs to talk to Theo."

Tru frowned, "But you're a DA aren't you? You can demand a conference with her … right?"

"It's a little more complicated than that."

Jenny chuckled, "Look at that," Jenny gestured out the window, she didn't have to, Rae was still watching them. Watching as Theo laughed at something James said, and blush when he reached up and smoothed back her hair behind her ear. Every little touch, every slight movement, and every look, and every smile, perfectly timed, and oh-so natural, Jenny shook her head, "He's good … you gotta give'em … oh … my … god …"

James kissed her, kissed Theo and it was no schoolyard kiss either, Tru rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time since she's been with her brother and returned her attention to her book. While Jenny looked to the still indifferent Rae that had also looked away and, like Tru, returned her attention to the book. Jenny scoffed and narrowed her eyes on Rae, nudging her shoulder she shrugged, as Rae glared, "What?"

Jenny gestured out the window, "You're not bothered by that?"

"Why should I be?"

"Come on, he's supposed to be helping us, and he's making out with his _'fling'_? If you ask me those two are far from over each other."

"Their relationship is not my business."

"So … you're not bothered in the least?"

"No, I have no reason to be."

"Do you really need a reason to be irritated that he can be such a jerk sometimes?"

Rae arched a brow, "I'm assuming this means you and he aren't friends anymore?"

Jenny scoffed, "I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about you …" Jenny tilted her head, "You're … really not bothered? You trust him not to be setting _you_ up with the Cross family?"

"…" there it was what Jenny was searching for, doubt, but as soon as she saw it, it was gone with a shrug of her shoulders, "I don't believe he's that stupid."

"… Uh-huh …" Jenny eyed Rae for a moment longer before shifting her eyes back out the window blinking when she realized she lost sight of her targets, searching for them in the sea of green, she sat up when she heard the front door open and close.

Theo was giggling away as she stumbled into the living room. Grinning at the occupants in the room as she leaned on the thrush-hold and held her breath when James walked passed her, but when he smirked she burst into another fit of giggles. Punching his arm she laughed, "Shut up! You're such an ass!"

James shrugged, grinning like he knew a secret everyone would kill to know, "What? I didn't say anything."

"But you're thinking it! Stop!" She still kept giggling.

It was driving Jenny crazy.

Rae stood up, the motion wasn't much, it wasn't even worth noticing, but James noticed. Out of the corner of his eye he watched her stand and glide across the room towards the stairs, Tru in tow. Just when she came near him he asked quietly, "Where you going?"

Theo didn't even catch it with all her giggling, so she thought he was talking to her, "What?"

He completely ignored her, so did Rae when she paused and looked up at him, the air churned with a strange vibe … it wasn't a comfortable one, but it wasn't _un_comfortable either. It was just thick and heavy, as if piled on with so many words to say, but choked off by some unseen force. Rae, blinked and looked away as if it'll dispel whatever curse had fell upon them, it didn't, but she resumed character and shrugged, "Just upstairs to get ready, with the way Tiffany keeps complaining about being late, I don't want to be caught unawares."

"Oh," was all he could utter for some strange reason, that heavy vibe weighing down on his chest, cutting off his voice box.

He hardly noticed when Theo stepped into the conversation, and asked, "What's going on?"

Rae looked up at her and repeated herself, "Just getting ready to head down to Gregorio's shoot."

Theo perked up, "Oh! Right!" Then she flicked her wrist in dismissal, "You don't have to be in such a rush, with James's skills on asphalt I assure you, you won't be late for anything. By the way, I'm Theo Cross … you must be –"

"Rae, Rae Roth," Rae took her hand and shook it firmly.

Theo smiled, "Nice to meet you." She winked, "And I meant what I said earlier, about James and his skills."

She giggled, Rae looked to James who shrugged as if to portray modesty, he was failing miserably, "Come on Theo, you give me too much credit."

"But it's true! You're the only guy I know that's gone from Greg's mansion on the other side of the Wastelands, into the city in under an hour, when it's a four hour long drive."

James grinned at the memory; he won about half a mil for that little stunt, and a little extra considering he was under the clock with 5 seconds to spare. He looked to Rae and winked, "She is kind a right, but don't let her praise fool you, Theo here ain't no body's saint."

Theo bumped the side of her hip to his, "Shut up James, she don't need to know that about me."

James just went right on a head and said it, "You know Dragon's Tail right? You know that road that winds around the valley before opening into the West-Coast Beach? Yeah, Theo over here thought she was bad enough to race me through it … of course she lost, but damn did she give me one helluva hard time."

She glared, "You know, other guys would have let their girls win."

"Ah, but I'm not like other guys am I?"

She giggled and turned to Rae who had instructed Tru to go on upstairs and start her meditation – silently though, Theo didn't need to know they were practicing magic – Theo smirked, "So … what about you Roth? You know how to kick it in gear?"

Rae blinked slowly, thinking about it … should she play along, or let them take center stage, she tested the waters to see if Theo was genuinely curious, or being courteous, "Ah, my brother's into cars … and I've had my share of experiences."

Theo's eyes sparkled, "Really … like what? Legit … or other?"

"… A little of both."

"Oh come on, you're being very vague! Say it loud, say it proud, you a racer or not?"

Rae chuckled, "Let's just say I'm good enough to fly through Dragon's Tail, and leave it at that."

Now James was intrigued he tilted his head and Rae knew what he was thinking, he's only seen her drive a bus before; did she honestly know how to keep up? Theo grinned, "Mm … okay … wanna make a bet?"

James frowned, and warned Theo with a dark look, "Theo …"

Theo ignored him and propped a hand on her hip, Rae arched a brow, "What kind of bet?"

James glared at Rae, "Rae …"

"Well, Greg's shoot is taking place at his mansion, on the other side of the Wastelands. We don't have to beat James's record … but whoever gets their first within the hour gets … mm … I dunno, what have you got to offer?"

"What do you give to a girl that's got everything already?"

Theo smirked, "True, true … hmm … I guess … your spot in the photo shoot will have to do. You lose; you lose your deal and your interview, to me. I lose than you get my spot … how's that?"

A lame deal, considering the fact that Rae didn't even want to be apart of the photo shoot to begin with, but … an idea hatched, she'll lose on purpose, "Well … okay … that is, if James will let me have the keys to one of his rides."

Theo squealed, "Ooo! This is so exciting! I've never raced a commoner before … eep! I mean, oh god, I didn't mean to offend you, I just –"

Rae held up a hand to silence her, "It's alright, I get it."

Theo turned to James and grabbed one of his arms to plead with him while batting her eyes, "Oh James, please, please, _please_ let her have free range over your garage! We promise not to pull stunts, only a straight race through the Wastelands. _Please!"_

James scowled, "You act like that in and of itself is safe, that place got so many twists and tunnels it's not even funny, I don't even know if Rae's any good …"

"You can ride with me to be sure," Rae suggested and Theo hooked on to it.

"Yeah! What she said! Come on James, it'll be fun, it'll be fun, it'll be fun."

"I _really_ don't like this." His golden eyes locked on Rae and a conversation beyond Theo's comprehension went on between the two through their eyes. James wanting to know exactly what Rae's edge was in accepting the challenge, and Rae wanting to know if James's concern was based off of the welfare of human life. Or something else, either which, when the conversation turned into a debate, James lost miserably; no one could hold a candle to Rae's infamous dry expression. James threw up his hands in defeat at the same time threw Rae the keys to a Shelby GT 500, "Fine … but I'm shotgun, I gotta see this."

Theo pumped her fist in the air, "YES! Tiff! I got another victim!"

Tiffany arched a brow and put her magazine down for a moment to study the trio, "You mean … oh-no Theo, not this stupid racing thing again! I thought you grew out of that!"

Theo rolled her eyes, "Whatever, but I'm taking my Skyline this time! You coming? I got room for one more …"

Tiffany shuddered, she's been on the passenger seat with Theo and James and Felix more times than she can count and on all counts she was nervous as hell, but … with a tired sigh she stood up, "Whatever, someone has to make sure you don't get yourself killed, James, I hope you don't mind if Jaquie stays with Tru here?"

James shrugged, "Why not, everyone else seems to think my place is a crash pad, let her."

Jaquie grinned, "Really? Sweet!"

With that she jumped off the couch and ran out of the room, racing up the stairs to Tru's bedroom, Tiffany called out to her as a half-assed attempt at scolding her, "Jaquie, what did I tell you about running in people's houses?"

She was ignored, or not heard with every thump of Jaquie's feet against the stairs.

Theo squealed again, "Ooo this is gonna be so much fun! Meet you in the driveway, the race don't start until we hit the Santa Maria Freeway, got it?"

Rae nodded, "Got it."

"Great! Let's go Tiff!" Theo grabbed the reluctant Tiff's wrist and yanked her out the door. 

Leaving James and Rae to silently, and uncomfortably head down to his garage, once inside with Rae unlocking the midnight-blue Shelby, X turned to her and glared, "What the hell are you trying to prove?"

Raven arched a brow as she took a hold of the driver's side door handle, looking up and over the roof of the small car to X at the passenger door, she answered dryly, "Nothing."

"Then why did you take Theo up on her offer?"

"Because I intend to get out of this photo shoot."

X's eyes widened in disbelief, "Wha … you took up the bet just so you can _lose?"_

Raven shrugged and slid into the car, X followed her, and once the doors were slammed shut she replied, "I don't see the point in continuing the shoot anymore now that I'm sure you've got Theo eating out of the palm of your hands … that _is_ the reason why you kissed her right?"

For a split second X expressed a guilty, nervous look, but only for a split second, he recovered from it with a cool smirk and casual shrug, "Eh … yeah, let's go with that."

She slid the key into the ignition, but paused to look at X, "X … her family is looking to kill yours, you remember that … right?"

"Duh."

She sneered, "Just checking …"

With that, she started the engine and revved it as Mr. Hedrick opened the garage door, she put it in gear and before X knew what hit him, she tore out of the garage and spun out into the drive way. Coming inches from Theo's silver Skyline GT-R when she pulled up, Theo gasped, startled. Her jade-green eyes staring through her dark metallic blue tint on her windshield to Rae's dark indigo hues, that expressed nothing, but warned her to watch out.

Rae revved the engine and her grip on her wheel tightened.

Theo gritted her teeth and focused, but smiled mockingly and waved happily at Rae as she drove passed, around the loop-driveway and out the gate.

Both of them anticipating getting to the Santa Maria Freeway … the tension so thick that Jinx could feel it, while she was still in the house, having assigned herself to look out for Tru and Jaquie, she sighed heavily and shook her head.

--

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, DC reserved those rights (coughbastardscough) ;). I do however own Jaquie, Tiffany, Tru, and Theo … as well as Gregorio, Felix, and Mr. Hedrick**

**A/N: O.o … I dunno if the rest of u picked up on this, but I noticed that X – besides Mr. Hedrick – is the **_**only**_** DUDE in that house, lol … **

**yeah … simmer on that for a while, while I run away from the angry mob that don't like the fact that Theo poses an actually threat to the Rae/X pairing … yeah … I'm gonna start running now …**

**Just remember, gimme some feedback, and we'll see where it takes us …**

**L8er daez ;)**


	12. Lane Change

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Lane Change**

"This is fuckin' pointless," X sneered, as he propped an elbow on the door, and his forehead in his hand, he glared at Raven out of the corner of his eye, "I give you the keys to one of the fastest cars ever made, and you're gonna lose on purpose? Why bother take the bet?"

"She asked for it," Raven shrugged as she turned right and neared the Santa Maria Freeway, beside her Theo pacing her.

X scoffed, "There is such a thing as resisting peer pressure, you could have said no … in fact, you could have just told me you really didn't want to be apart of the shoot and I would have made a few adjustments."

"You knew I didn't want to be apart of the shoot from the get-go, and even if I said no you would have pushed me into going, so I saved us both the trouble."

"Saved us trouble? Whatever, I would have been happy arguing with you instead of racing through the Wastelands just to lose … I'm beginning to wonder if you can actually give Theo a run for her money."

"Whether or not Theo has what it takes to keep up with me, is not something I'm at all concerned about."

"Don't you mean: whether or not _you're _able to keep up with _her."_ X snorted, "I didn't lie when I said she gave me a hard time at Dragon's Tail."

Raven glanced at X as she took another turn, getting closer to the freeway with every passing traffic light, Theo still pacing her, waiting to stomp on the gas and take off the moment they hit the freeway, Raven scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Say what you will …"

Red light, the turn off for the freeway was just beyond this traffic light.

Theo pulled up beside Raven and they waited in anticipation, Raven took a deep breath, X reached up and grabbed his oh-shit bar preparing for the take off once the light turned green. It felt like forever, there was no wind, traffic was light, and no one outside of their circle knew the chaos that would exploded the moment the light gave them permission to tear up the streets. Tiffany grabbed the bar over her head and shot Theo an unsure look, "Theo … you can still call this off … we don't have to do this …"

Theo smirked, "Are you crazy? I haven't had a challenge in so long; I've been itchin' for a fight."

Tiffany rolled her eyes and glanced up at the traffic light, she never even had a second to watching it turn green before Theo stomped on the pedal and took off roaring, Tiffany screamed, _"AAHHHH!!"_

"_WOOOO!!"_ X exclaimed as Raven took off the same time as Theo, both of them angling themselves at the turn off, Theo jerked her wheel determined to gain the upper hand. She forced Raven to back off least they get into a huge wreck; Theo took the lead and left Raven in the dust as she zoomed up the ramp onto the freeway, Raven close behind. X chuckled, "Damn … she's not going to make this easy for you."

Raven ignored him and the moment she got on the freeway, she broke through traffic without warning and like a bat out of hell ran-down Theo, catching up fast. Theo sneered, and swerved into her right lane, cutting off a random driver and scaring him bad enough to jerk away and stomp on his break. Raven gritted her teeth and again pulled back, but this time to avoid a pile up, glaring at Theo's tail; she squeezed though an opening and floored it.

Theo laughed, "Well she's persistent."

Tiffany's eyes widened and she sank in her seat frantically pointing out the wind-shield, "Oh shit, oh shit, Theo! Cop, cop, _cop!"_

"Huh?"

Theo scanned the road and spotted an undercover police cruiser with his red light on the dashboard, she scowled, "Damn … it's a tuner …"

X glanced at Raven when he noticed the same thing, a cruiser built to keep up with speedy thrill-seekers, "You still up for this?"

"…" Raven didn't say anything; she let her foot do the talking and floored it when Theo hesitated. Raven rushed up behind Theo and passed both her and the cop, the cop's siren went off, and Raven knew in a matter of minutes there would be more coming after her.

Theo began to play catch up, with a smile on her face, "She makes life fun … I like her."

Tiffany started to breath hard, "Oh god, I'm gonna die, I'm so gonna die … _AH!_ Theo! Watch out!"

The cop was coming up on her right, fast, and Theo cut him off to keep up with Raven as the turn off for the Wastelands grew closer and closer. Over head a helicopter swooped in to get a good look at the racers, and to keep a close eye on them for authority's sake. Theo pulled up neck and neck with Raven, the turn off only large enough for one car at a time, and neither were ready to give up that right.

Theo rolled down her window the same time X did, he grinned at her and winked, she smiled and blew him a kiss. Raven's grip on her wheel tightened and with a jerk she shifted gears and blew Theo away, cutting her off and swerving into the turn off. Swirling down the steep downward curve, she kept her wheel steady, even when two police cruisers were waiting for her at the bottom. Guns out, pointed in warning, she shot through them, even with their bullets flying at her tires, she drifted to the left and through a tunnel.

Shooting out the ramp and onto the open road that'll wind and curve through the Wastelands, whether or not Theo was catching up was none of Raven's concern. Upon entering the Wastelands, one had to follow through the lip of the canyon and that was one doozey of a drop. The guard rails would do nothing if there was a slip up on her end, X sighed, "Alright, coming up is a split road, go right that's the fastest way to Gregorio's place."

Raven narrowed her eyes, "Assuming that Gregorio lives in _Eternal Springs _the fastest way to get there is to go left, through the caves."

"No, trust me, go right." X insisted through gritted teeth, the split coming up fast, and Theo gaining faster with the cop on their tail and the helicopter swirling over head.

Raven glared, "Why? That'll be taking us around and straight through the desert."

X nodded, "Yeah, it's a smooth road, for a smooth ride, take the caves and god knows what you'll be getting into. Go _right!"_

The split was in sight, Raven growled, "I'm going _left."_

"You wanna kill yourself, fine, but do it on your own time! _RIGHT!"_

"Shut up and let me drive!"

Raven went left.

Tiffany shook her head, "What the hell is she doing? Gregorio's place is on the right …"

"Yeah … but the left must be a short cut … if you look at the old road mapping …" Theo smirked, "This should be interesting."

Up top the chopper and the police in it informed the ground chaser, _"All units be advised, suspects have entered Jericho Cave, proceed with caution."_

"_Negative Unit-16, your command is to stand down."_

"_What?"_

"_Stand down, the situation is being handled as we speak."_

"_Repeat, stand down, do you copy officer?"_

"… _Yeah … copy …"_ with that the helicopter pulled away and the tuner cop-car slowed to a halt.

The darkness of the cave soon enough enveloped Raven and Theo, Raven kept her lights off, using Theo's illumination to help her demonic senses just a little. The echoes of their roaring engines awakening the shadows deep within the dark craves that whined through the canyon and down through the valley. Theo tried to squeeze through an opening on Raven's left; Raven cut her off, shifted gears and made a hard left, her tail whipping dangerously close to a stalagmite.

The stalactites over head dipping down so low X was tempted to sink into his chair every time Raven swerved to avoid a formation too low to drive through; it honestly unnerved him, "Fuck … you better make sure you know what you're doing …"

"Have a little faith," Raven replied dryly as she once again cut Theo off when she tried to pass her. The flash of her headlights lighting up the narrow road ahead that X noticed curved and whipped like a slithering snake lazily lounging about on the cave grounds.

X looked at Raven and smirked, "I trust you."

She looked at him and if Fate had her way, she would have killed both the Titan and the Thief in that cave, forever trapping their souls in that moment of forgotten worries. However, Raven was not such an easy soul to steal, with her eyes still on X, she reached for the gear, shifted, released the clutch and like a flawless out of control dance she drifted over the snake's back. Her violet eyes narrowed on the road, momentarily glancing back to make sure Theo hadn't killed herself yet.

The human daughter of a demonic clan, much to her surprise was keeping up, X gripped on the over-head bar and laughed, _"Oh yeah! Wooo!"_

At the end of the winding road was a bright light … and through the bright light was the open road … and on the open road Raven expected there to be a road block, maybe a couple of spikes to stop her and Theo … but no. When she flew out of the cave and into the valley, there was nothing … nothing but a lone falcon flying over head, screeching as it anticipated the next challenge to come. A sudden large shadow hovered overhead, to a naïve bunch it would look like a couple of clouds blocked out the sun, but no. Both Raven and X knew better, they leaned forward and looked up, then went bug-eyed.

Tiffany with Theo trailing behind Raven saw the gigantic spider dropping from the sky to land on top of them, Tiffany screamed, Theo gritted her teeth and brake hard, "Damn!"

Raven stomped on her gas and went faster, barely avoiding the spider as it slammed on the ground, and never skipped a beat as it ran after the speeding Shelby. X, bouncing in his chair, looking back and hitting the dashboard exclaimed, "Oh shit, oh shit, sunshine it's getting bigger! Go faster! Much faster! Go, go, _go!"_

"_Grr,"_ Raven growled as she followed the curve of the valley, but so did the spider, it leapt on the canyon wall, then jumped high with the intent to crush them once again. Raven hit her brake, and swerved to keep Theo from passing her as the spider landed and roared at the two.

Tiffany screamed, _"TTTTTHHHHHEEEEEEOOOOOOOAAAAHHHHHH!!"_

That was when Raven gassed it and with Theo both zoomed under the giant spider that tried to snap at them, but entered up tripping itself up and falling on its side. Theo laughed, _"YEAH!"_

The spider, agitated, got back up and ran the two down, keeping up with all its jumping and leaping from one side of the canyon wall to the other. Raven kept close tabs on it, but at the same time realized that they were coming up on a bottle neck in the road, a naturally formed bridge beside a waterfall, and over a river. Beautiful, truly beautiful, but faced with the danger of losing a race and losing her life to a mutated spider, the beauty eluded her. X sneered, "Shit, this thing just doesn't give up."

The spider arrived behind Theo, but it didn't jump, it sucked in a deep breath, and Raven gritted her teeth, "Damn it."

She shifted, released the clutch, and stomped on her brake, making sure she was directly in front of Theo, she swirled so she was in a perfect broad-slide that blocked Theo from progressing. Forcing the girl to brake hard and thus slide under the spider's launched webby substance that exploded on the road. Raven gritted her teeth and tried to correct herself, but ended up driving in reverse, hood-to-hood with Theo; she hit her gas again, avoided the web and headed straight for the bridge. The spider roared and raced after her, Raven sneered, "Come on."

She slowed her speed, the spider came closer, X pressed his back against the seat of his car and glanced at Raven, then with a sudden jerk she, again, hit the brake the moment the spider leaned down to take a bite of them. They slid under the spider and the spider itself booked a first class trip straight down to the bottom of the waterfall. Raven swirled the car back around and resumed her race without missing a beat.

X grinned, "Damn girl!"

Just beyond the bridge was Eternal Springs, real-estate the equivalent of Beverly Hills. It had an amazing view, was secluded, and had giant land lots! Through this bridge was a winding road, very similar to the one in the cave, but on an incline. Raven drifted with ease around the corner, but never forgot that Theo was tailing her as they both swirled their way to the top, Raven determined to keep Theo eating her dust, and Theo gritting her teeth in frustration.

They both flew up on top of the incline and into an unbelievable oasis of riches, and lavish luxuries, "Here! Turn right! Turn right!"

"I heard you the first time!" Raven growled and made a sharp turn into another street, "Which house?!"

"Dodger Mansion! Dodger Mansion!"

Theo growled, "Damn it!"

Raven grew closer, the gates to Gregorio's mansion was open, and waiting for her arrival … she hit her brakes, broad-slide across the street, and perfectly parallel parked at the gate while Theo zoomed passed her and into the driveway. X's mouth dropped, "What the –! You were just –! It's right –!_ WHAT?!"_

Raven sighed heavily, and leaned back against her chair as she tried to catch her breath, "I already told you I wasn't going to win …"

X shook his head, "Princess that's just fucked up …"

"Whatever," she sighed again, and started up the car to carefully drive it around the gate and into the driveway, parking behind Theo, who stood waiting with her arms crossed over her chest and a not so happy look on her face. Shutting off the car, Rae climbed out and smiled, shrugging innocently, "Nice race …"

Theo scowled and marched up to Raven with evil glaring green eyes, "Why you little – oof!"

"Hold up Thee," X caught her around the waist and pulled her around and away from Rae. Forcing her to face him, as he slowly backed her up his arms wrapped around her, "come on, let it go, you won."

"No I didn't!" Theo hissed as she pounded her fists into his chest to get him to let go, "She let me go! Who the hell does she think she is! Oooo – James! Let me go!"

Rae put a hand to her chest and slowly approached them, "I'm sorry if I offended you …"

"Shut up! What's the big idea anyway?!"

Rae frowned, "Nothing … I just –"

"You what, huh? You thought that you –"

"Theo!" Theo gasped and stopped struggling in James's arms when he barked her name, looking up at him, his heated amber eyes warning her to shut up or suffer the wrath of his molten punishment. "The only one freaking out here is you. Get the fuck over it jeez, you won, you won. Let. It. _Go_."

He shoved her away and shook his head; sidestepping her he headed for the mansion, but glanced over his shoulder at Rae and with that simple motion he called her up after him. Rae blinked slowly, glanced at Theo from the corner of her eye and watched the girl take off after James before she casually strolled up the Spanish steps to the mansion. Though, she paused when she sensed something watching them … she looked up and saw the same falcon from before flying over head, a feather falling from its wing and fluttering down to her. She held out a hand to it, and the moment it touched the tip of her finger it flashed white and a scroll was in her hand.

Rae arched a brow, but stuffed it in the pocket of her jeans as she walked up the stairs and into the mansion where James was leaning against the thrush-hold of the door, waiting for her. He looked down at her when she stood beside him and took in the mansion, the grand curved staircase being set up for the shoot. Rae glanced at James and asked, "Where's Theo?"

He shrugged, "Getting ready for her photo-op … she's up first."

"Oh, so what, you two made up?"

"What's it to you?"

Rae shook her head, "Honestly, I don't care, I just need to know if you're getting any information out of her."

"Just let me work …" he stared at her, making sure he had her full attention, he did without even trying. Rae hated how he could do that with those eyes of his, and his devilishly-charming voice that would send tempting chills down any girl's spine, "Trust me."

Rae bit down on her lower lip and turned away from him with an awkward sigh, she leaned away from him and looked up when one of the stylists walked up to her and pointed. "Ah-hah found you! You must be Rae, well come on back and we'll get you set up."

Rae shook her head, "Oh-no, I'm not apart of this shoot anymore … you see, Theo –"

"Oh we know all about it, and she dropped the deal … you're still on for the shoot, but she's taking the interview. So come on now."

Rae's mouth hit the floor, "What …"

The stylist rolled her eyes, "Look, I understand you're shy, but let's go!"

Rae looked to James for some help, but he just shrugged as if to say it was out of his hands and she scowled, "Some adjustments huh?"

He chuckled, "One more isn't going to kill you."

She sneered, "I might die a little inside."

"Then call a Make-a-Wish Foundation."

She shot him a dark look, he smirked and winked.

Rolling her eyes, she sauntered after the stylist wondering about James's little episode with Theo, and his moment with her, but not letting it get to her; she entered the extra room turned into a dressing room. There, Theo was seated at one of the mirrors chatting it up with the interviewer smiling away, but it was all for show. When she looked up at Rae her smile faltered slightly, but she caught herself and laughed at something the journalist said.

Rae ignored her and walked to her own mirror where make-up and hair started to take care of her, one of them wrapped their arms around her and hugged her, "Oh girl I am so proud of you!"

Rae gasped, "Ah … uh … huh?"

He pulled away and turned her to face him, "It's me! Tommy Morgan! Remember? Girl, all that fame had better not have gone to your head. LOL, I'm just joshin' you, oh you were amazing in _Chic_, loved it!"

Tommy Morgan, the celebrity make-up and stylist, with his baby-bottom smooth skin, bleached platinum blonde hair, short and spiked. Wearing a carnation pink polo with very intricate swirl-like designs imprinted on the bottom right corner branching out to the rest of the shirt. Tight, white pants and red-pink converse, he smiled a 1000 watt smile and Rae was honestly blinded by his bright appearance. He gave Starfire a run for her money when it came to pink. He squealed, "Ooo, I can't believe you were in _Chic!_ Giovanni is my idle! _Looove _him!"

"Morgan!" The head stylist barked, "She's here to do a job, not chit-chat, get to work!"

Morgan rolled his eyes and looked down at Rae with a wink, "We'll just keep our voices down then, so here we go!" With that said he spun her around and proceeded to transform her into a different character for the shoot, "So, do you know what you'll be modeling for today?"

Rae sighed and winced when one of the hair-stylists pulled at her silky locks, "Uh, no, not really … I'm just told to go here and do this."

Tommy scoffed, "Oh, well you'll be modeling for Crimson Desires's new line called: _X-clusive_. It's sexy-sassy-urban-attitude-kick-your-ass-in-your-face-down-and-dirty, and you know what … I think you could totally work it! In fact, just between you and me, I'm going to throw in a couple of their unreleased ensembles, they're to _die_ for."

"Uh-huh … but isn't that … I don't know, _stealing?_"

"Whatever girl, this is the big time; you get shit for free for just walking though the door." He laughed, "Done! Mm-mm, fabulous! Okay, here put these on and good luck!"

In a matter of time, Rae had slipped into black form-fitting low-rider jeans and a white small hoodie jacket that only covered her chest, on the back – and god help her – was a giant red X slashed eerily similar to a certain someone's look. For accessories she was given large black shades with another red X slashed on the right side of the sunglasses, large red hoop earrings, and black fingerless gloves. Her shoes were pure white with intricate red designs on the side, and on the bottom was – you guessed it – more red Xs.

God must _really_ love picking on her lately.

"Aw, that looks so cute!" Rae looked up after staring at herself in the mirror for a good whole minute, wondering if whether or not she should kill this Gregorio for making her life a living hell. Theo swayed her way in a black mini-fold skirt so high that if she bent over at more than a 20 degree angle the entire world will see that she was wearing black lacy under-panties. White, short sleeved button up, the collar popped with a red tie, and a black vest that was barely able to button over her well-endowed chest area. She smiled at Rae and stood beside her at the mirror, "Gods, don't we look hot! Ooo! Don't go anywhere, I wanna take a pic, be back in a flash!"

_Well, isn't she miss moody wasn't she pissed at me a moment ago?_ Rae shook her head, she'll never understand girl-world, even though she was a girl herself, girl-world was just an alien place for her. No wonder Starfire was an expert at it. Rae watched as Theo hurriedly walked back in her black skater-shoes with white stockings stopping just above her knee. The large chandelier-like earrings they gave her to wear jingling and chiming, she wrapped her arm around Rae leaned in close and held up her digital camera, "Say cheese!"

She smiled beautifully, Rae just turned up the corner of her lips in a half-assed attempted, but when Theo went back to examine the picture she squealed, "Oh, wow, I don't know how it is you do it but I love that look of yours!"

"Yeah … thanks …" Rae shrugged then looked at Theo with narrowed eyes, "…So … are you okay about earlier … I mean about letting you win …"

Theo waved her hand in dismissal, "Oh yeah, we're cool, James explained everything to me, how you didn't want to be apart of the shoot to begin with and everything. But, girl, to be honest, I don't know why you're so shy? You got what it takes … all you need is a little motivation, that's why I let you keep your shoot, maybe after this take you'll learn to like it."

She smiled, the stylist called and she put a hand on Rae's shoulder, "Oh, gotta go, talk to yaz laters … wish me luck!"

"Break a leg," Rae shrugged and again, watched Theo walk away with a slight tilt of her head then shook it and walked over to her pile of clothes. Digging into her pocket she pulled out the scroll, but before she read it she glanced around to be sure no one was watching. Tommy was no where in sight and she just saw James walk by the door with Theo in his arm. With that, she unrolled it and read it with a frown.

_Raven,_

_Forewarned is forearmed._

_The angels are restless, the demons are in motion, and I feel a chill in the air._

_The Dark Karma Ring isn't the only thing that's missing … but all the same the angels wish its safe return._

_Fair Warning,_

_Bastian_

_P.S. I'll be seeing you soon, take care._

Rae rolled her eyes and crumbled up the scroll into a tight fist, _Leave it to Bastian to send cryptic messages … elves and their play on words, it's an unholy marriage._ She sneered and when she unclenched her fist, the scroll that was once there turned to nothing but dust. With a quick turn she marched out of the dressing room, but slowed to a stop at the door. Looking up the stairs, watching Theo dominate the set, looking as puuurrrfect as a cute little kitten, there was a pause, Theo looked down at her and smiled and wiggled her fingers in greeting.

Rae nodded her head in return, but it wasn't until she felt his aura did she realize the greeting wasn't for her. James was standing close to her, with a relaxed posture, hands in his pocket and leaning against the wall. He glanced down at her and smirked, "You look good … run into another pain factory."

She sneered, "Ha. Ha."

"Aw, come on it was a compliment."

Rae rolled her eyes and scoffed tiredly, "What do you want, _James?"_

"Just to say hi, you were standing here all by your lonesome, thought I'd give you some company."

"Gee, and they say chivalry's dead."

"Oh, it is, dead and gone … but who knows, there could be a few good men out there."

She scoffed, "That isn't saying much."

He grinned, "What? You don't believe in romance?"

"Romance is dead and gone, it's all about how long you can screw someone and how fast you can get another without spending more than twenty bucks on the first round of drinks."

"Damn do you have one negative out look on life."

"I'm half-demon … it's my nature."

"You're also half-human … that's gotta count for something right?"

Rae gritted her teeth and balled her hands into tight fists, her eyes narrowed at the very mention of being half-human and it counting for something. In the beginning, she would always tell herself that same exact thing, being human just had to count for something. Just _had_ to … why would God allow her to live if he knew she'd one day literally release all hell on Earth … what kind of God will allow that? With the strong urge to snap at James and rant and rave about semantics, she instead bit her tongue and swallowed her aggravation.

No sense in arguing what a _human_ would never understand.

She sighed heavily and shrugged, "Maybe … truth is stranger than fiction. You would think that my being a half-breed would allow me to walk both lines … but life never works out the way you want it …"

She looked up at him, and he looked down at her sharing a silent, comfortable moment of honest-to-God curious intrigue. He wanted to ask more about her, he wanted to _know_ more about her life, what she's been through, and what she's currently going through. Which flabbergasted him, for he came here with the intention of messing with her head again … instead, he found himself scrambling for words to keep their conversation flowing, to keep her talking.

Too bad he thought too long, because she turned away from him to see Theo was coming down, Rae gestured to the stairs with a jerk of her head, "Your girlfriend's coming down … be sure to find out all you can …"

"Oh, Rae-Rae!" Tommy called from the set, "You're up sweetie, and after you we're gonna take a quick break then start up again, kay? Okay!"

Without looking back she left James, crossing paths Theo, the girl raced passed her and into James's arms. He accepted her embrace without skipping a beat, twirling her around; he set her down, complimented her, and told her how awesome she was on set, even though he never paid a single ounce of attention to her. Her face glowed with a cute blush as she grasped his hands and dragged him off the set and into the pool area for some drinks.

Rae was a witness to it all, and whether or not their flirtatious relationship upset her was up for debate. Her stoic mask was perfect. No one could penetrate it … sometimes not even her own reflection.

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, DC does, Theo, Tiffany, Tommy and X-clusive are what I own!**

**A/N: I HATE THIS CHAPTER!! Dumb thing gave me a frickin' hard time … believe it or not, if you looked at my files right now, you'd see about three to … O.o … 4 – **_**4 DIFFERENT**_** versions of this chapter. I was pulling out my hair ARGH!! I'm not even sure I like THIS ONE!! I'm just hoping I won't regret this later … ugh … it screwed up my whole system of things, now I fear I won't be updating as fast as I use to earlier.**

**BLAH!!**

**Whatever … we'll see where life takes us … **

**But fear not I shant give up!!**

**L8erz**


	13. Fire and Ice

Famous for Being Famous

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Fire and Ice**

"I swear to God, she is such a fuckin' spaz!" Theo exclaimed with a smile on her face, while she sat on a white leather couch, leaning into James's arms, she laughed along with the rest of the 'gang' after the photo-shoot was done and over with.

She gasped and put a hand to her mouth as if trying to hide the fact that she was laughing so hard about something some other celerity or the other had done with whoever, whenever and wherever. Rae could careless, but she smiled coldly and pressed a glass of what was called the Green Hurricane to her lips, whatever was in it was strong and she needed that strength to last a little longer. She downed it without regret, and put the glass down on the poolside bar. The hired bartender for the evening offered, "Fill'er up?"

Rae looked at him, then down at her glass and shrugged, "Why not, we're gonna be here a while …"

He chuckled, "Bare with it lady, sooner rather than later they'll all get tired of each other. Beautiful people can't be around each other for too long otherwise strange things happen … mysterious pictures pop up in magazines, missing sextapes, rumors, scandals … eh, here's hopin' a pretty young thing as yourself don't become such a hot-mess."

"Thanks …" Rae took a hold of her filled up glass, and walked away from the bar, from the conversation, from the group, and decided to explore the area around the pool. Faintly she wondered if her friends were doing well, if Robin hasn't freaked out too bad, and if Tru was really doing as she was told. With another sip of the Green Hurricane, she paused at a set of stepping-stones that skipped across what looked to be another pool, but on black waters. Well, actually the container was black, and within a hidden courtyard shielded by various imported exotic trees that lined either side leading to a patio of sorts.

She watched the water ripple as a cool breeze swept passed, and blinked when she thought she saw a reflection of something big fly over the water. For a moment she blamed it on the drink, but found it wasn't all in her head when she felt the shadow swoop over her. She arched a brow, and with a slow blink she looked over her shoulder and sneered when she saw _him_. He was leaning on one of the trimmed hedges. His silent approach was impressive, she'll give him that, but since he was a dragon that more than once tried to kill her, she should have known better.

_Lucky I got another one of these …_she took a big gulp of her drink before she turned to face him as he swiftly closed the gap between them to speak to her in a low voice that no other human in the gathering would hear, "The wanderer is always the first to go love …"

He smoothed back his short unkempt spiky jet-black hair to get a cowlick out of his eyes, but it fell back in place as he grinned a fanged grin. Tall, dark, and strikingly handsome with a look that screamed _'inhumanly beautiful'_ Raven scowled, "You're out of concealment, Malchior …"

His grin grew, "There's no one else here, but you and me …"

"Don't push it." Raven took another gulp and frowned when she realized she was almost done with her second drink and she still wasn't feeling the buzz she needed to un-sober herself. Damn her demon half for having a high alcohol tolerance level.

Malchior chuckled, "I don't understand why you're so hostile to me now, when it is you that gave me the second chance."

"Third." Raven corrected.

"Excuse me?"

"Third chance, your second came with the book …"

"Ah, an Angel of Mercy," he bowed mockingly low as a gentleman of old would to a lady he found to his liking, "You're too kind."

Raven gritted her teeth her patience just about all used up, "Malchior get to the point and fast because I am in no mood."

"…" he challenged her with a dark look, the fun was long gone, his pride was still in shambles after being beat by her twice, and upon both occasions she didn't kill him. No, she locked him up … the last time in the Herald's Domain, and that was just cruel and unusual punishment to be sealed away in such an abstract, detached world. Locked in chains, with no hope of escape, no hope that is, until Bastian the elf came to dish out his punishment for being in direct violation of the Immortal Code.

Something that Malchior had no idea ever existed between immortals and mortals in this day … for his ignorance he was pardoned from a death sentence, but only because of Raven's testimony. She saved his life, he owed her, and in their world that meant he had to do whatever she said until either's death, or she released him of his contract. For that he was annoyed with her, because of one of her conditions of pardon was for him to work as a DA to pay off his debt. Granted it could have been worse, but still, he was given a lot of the go-do missions, but for the simple fact that she spared him, he was grateful … but that only goes so far.

Raven glared darkly, and sneered, "Take a picture, it'll last longer."

He snorted, "I'm pretty sure I can just tear out a page of your magazine … makes my life easier, and that way I don't have always have to look at that scowl of yours. Very unladylike."

"If Bastian hasn't been giving you enough work I'll be happy to assign you something to do."

"No thanks love," Malchior sighed and nimbly danced around her to hop onto one of the skipping stones, "Bastian is keeping me plenty enough busy … I just dropped in as a request from said Bastian to check on you, and to see if you require some assistance."

"I'm good, thanks."

"He insisted I ask if you were sure."

"Tell him I have everything under control."

"He doubts it'll be so in the long run."

"I know how to do my job."

"He doesn't doubt it … he just wants to be sure …"

Raven rolled her eyes, _Trust Bastian to predict the outcome of such a simple exchange, _she sighed heavily and took another sip of her drink, "It's not his job to worry about me."

"Maybe not," Malchior shrugged, and relayed the last of Bastian's message, the part that made him swallow his own tongue in hesitation, he turned his back on Raven and skipped around the stepping-stones, "but it is his job to make sure you are prepared … that is why he assigned me as your partner for the remainder of your mission."

Raven shot him a dirty look, actually trying to see through Malchior's sly persona, to Bastian's – no doubt – snickering face, "Tell him I just might have to kill the messenger if this turns out to be a joke."

Malchior stopped in the middle of the pool, he stood up straight and with his snake-like jagged sunset orange eyes he matched Raven's look with a dry expression of his own, "Believe me little Raven, if it were in my power, I'd have thrown more than a fit … my preference of business is a more solo route, but within this strange circuit of complex politics I suppose insurance is more of a requirement then a suggestion. Surely you've figured that in a mission as grand as yours the Disciplinary Committee would like to make sure business is smooth and swift."

"Grand?" Raven growled, "What is so grand about protecting a human and his siblings from execution … in fact, I was expecting Bastian to confront Cross the moment he got a call from Robin."

Slowly, Malchior's brow rose to hide beneath his cowlick, evaluating Raven with a look of skepticism he tilted his head and said, "For someone who's held at high esteem within the demonic community, you sure miss a lot."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Raven sneered.

Malchior huffed, and with one bound he crossed the middle of the pool and gracefully landed beside Raven without disturbing a single blade of grass. He stared down at Raven for a moment, and within that moment Raven had the funniest image of Malchior jolting his head to the side like a curious bird. She shook the image from her head and listened up as Malchior went into detail of his knowledge thus-far in the new world he lived in, "Ryan Elroy Diamond, or as you know him: Red X, is an elusive thief, but you ever wonder _how _he can disappear from the human radar, and not get killed when a deal with immortals goes sour?"

Raven nodded, "I've done my homework, his older brother, Felix, is a powerful influence. He owns a good portion of Jump City and is even the owner of this photo shoot." She scowled when she remembered the conversation in the group talking about how Gregorio is currently _'indisposed'_ of due to some _'confusion'_ with Felix's schedule. _Riiiiggghhht …_

Malchior shrugged, "Well there's that … but I'm sure you've heard about Felix the Phoenix … one of the new nephilims of this age that has erased countless prices from his head from all sides, human, angel, and demon. No matter what happens to him he keeps coming back."

Raven arched a brow in interest, she heard of that story, hell, before she became a Titan she was apart of the world wide DA search party for Felix, and his assassins. The moment the word was given that some humans from very influential powerhouses – the Religious kind – were in on the deal, it was time to put an end to the reckless affair. The situation was handled swiftly and efficiently, Felix was left alone, and those that tried to hunt him were immediately put to death for not complying with the warning.

As the years progressed, the threat eventually died down to a minimum, and Felix no longer required the protection from the DA … Raven just never knew this was the _same_ Felix. Considering X was human, and so was Tru … then she frowned, "So … that would mean this whole thing is about Felix again … but it doesn't make sense to risk putting a price on either X or his sister's head."

"Oh, this isn't about Felix," Malchior waved his hand in dismissal, "I just thought you needed to know, and for that matter, I also thought you needed to know that Tru, is a descendent of Rorek of Nol, that is why she takes to magics like fish to water … small world is it not?"

Raven scowled, "I'm beginning to wonder if X's mother really did kill herself …"

"Oh, fear not, she did," Malchior chuckled darkly, "grew tired of caring about protecting her nephilim. She had to run from one place to the other in order to ensure her other children's safety. I guess, she just couldn't take it anymore …"

Raven was shot back to the night when X told her about his mother's suicide … damn if she only asked _why_ she'd have probably gotten more information out of him. Damn her and her modesty, why couldn't she be more like Robin, more direct with his questioning. Feeling guilty for not doing her job right, Raven snarled, _Bastian probably suspected as much_, now she was really annoyed, but bottled it up to mediate on it later.

With a dry huff she shook her head, "Then what is this whole thing about if it's not about X's family's heritage."

"It is about his heritage."

Raven shot him a dry look, "So it is about Felix?"

"No, it's about X?"

She sneered, "What, is he some Prince of some foreign country that I should know about?"

"Not quite, but you're close."

She was just about to take another sip of her drink, but stopped and froze solid to stare at Malchior from the corner of her eye, "Excuse me …"

"He's not a prince by the standards society sets my dear, but his father was held in high esteem in underground smuggling of priceless arts, and blood diamonds, they called him the King of Shadows because no one could detect his business. Rumor has it that before he died he taught X at an early age the basic of what he knows now, thus earning _him_ the title of the Prince of Thieves."

_Frightening … truly frightening …_ Raven narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "How do you know all this?"

Malchior scoffed and rolled his eyes, "I wasn't just sitting around poking my nose and doing nothing in the Brotherhood … people talk, I listen … I just so happened to stumble on a rather interesting conversation between the Brain, Mullah, and Red X. X didn't want in and was returning his invite, the Brain and Mullah both tried to convince him it was for the best he stick around. Then you add the fact you have me working for the DA and you people keep impressively meticulous records."

Raven ignored the last statement, and brought her glass to her lips to take another swig, but Malchior took it from her and downed it all in one gulp, then licked his lips and smacked it. Raven glared at him and he shrugged, tossed the glass in the air and used a bit of magic to shatter the glass silently and turned it into tiny little dust particles that blew in the wind. Raven put a hand on her hip and sighed, "Alright then … if this is about X, I get the feeling it's about his father leaving a bit of bad blood behind for him to clean up."

"And you'd be right … the King of Shadows stole an item, but before he could trade it off, he was killed in a gang-related shooting, the item was lost in a raid."

Raven recapped Bastian's note, something about an item other than the Dark Karma ring gone missing and a chill shot down her spine when she realized that the girl's death at the museum that started all this really _was_ an accident. X was within the vicinity, he was the target … not the girl. Raven took a deep breath, and she glanced back at the pool, she chewed on her lower lip she looked back at Malchior with a dry expression, "Do you have to follow me around twenty-four seven?"

Malchior grinned, "No, but trust I will be skulking around, making sure you're safe."

With that said he put a hand on the side of her face and tilted her head up at him, Raven allowed it. Even allowed it when he pressed his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, a content growl rumbled from his chest, a sign of trust that even as a half-demon she understood, and was grateful for the inhuman show of affection. She may be fighting to keep her human side in command, but on occasion her demon would long to be with others like her.

Malchior and Bastian were the closest she could get without being hunted, killed, or shunned by her own kind. That's why she gave Malchior all those chances at life, despite his conniving, deceitful ways, she _needed_ his affection. His hand trailed down from the side of her face to weave his fingers into her hand, his purring grew louder, the corner of his lips curved up, his fangs poking out. He wanted to hear her respond, to know if she was fine, silence to his nature was a sign of distress … Raven sighed and pushed against him letting a tiny growl of hers slip to reassure him she was fine.

His tone changed, he wasn't convinced, but he'll accept it for now.

"Hey …" Raven pulled away from Malchior, who snorted and opened his eyes to look at her with an arched brow. She sighed again and turned around, her hand slowly slipping from his as she gazed upon the suspicious X who stumbled upon their little moment. With his hands in his pocket, he slowly strolled into the yard; he jerked his head to the side to get his bangs out of his cold golden eyes that darted back and forth between Raven and Malchior, before resting on Raven, "We gotta go … who's your friend?"

Raven took a deep breath looked from Malchior to X and opened her mouth to respond, but Malchior spoke for her with a fixed smile, "No body important," with that aid he leaned down and kissed the top of her head, and focused her attention on him as he whispered, "I'll see you some other time love."

"Concealment Malchior," Raven reminded him, he smiled deviously, and with one bound he flipped over the pool, barely touched ground on the other side before he shot back up and disappeared.

X sneered, and scoffed, "No body my ass …" he shot Raven a pointed look, "So who is he really? Your boyfriend?"

Raven sensed the animosity in his tone and didn't like it, but dismissed it, "Partner, he'll be working along side me to search for whatever it is your father stole that's important enough to put a price on your head."

"My father …" he jerked his head back in shock, confusion, and irritation because they were investigating him, "How the hell does he play into all this?"

"Before his death he stole an item that's of great importance."

"Important enough to get me killed?"

"Apparently," Raven smoothed back her hair when the wind blew in her face, "but now is not the time to talk about it, you said we have to go."

She tried to walk around him, but he blocked her, "Oh-no, you're not getting off that easy. You disappear from everyone's sights, and I find you out here with some guy … a little explanation would be nice."

Raven narrowed her eyes, "I don't owe you anything, and I already told you he's my partner."

"Some partner," he scoffed, "does this business come with benefits too?"

She stepped up to him and poked a finger in his chest, "Stop being such an ass, and get over it. In case you've forgotten I'm not here because I _want_ to be here, I'm here because I _have_ to be here, it's my _job_. I don't have the time, or the luxury to fool around, unlike you."

X resented that comment, "Who says I'm foolin' I'm doing my part and keeping my ears on the streets, what the fuck are you doing but talking to your damn friends and seeing other people behind my back and discussing my _life_ behind my back when you can't just ask me straight up."

Raven crossed her arms over her chest, "I have X! I've asked you direct enough questions; I've given you chances to come out and tell me everything I need and should know about you to keep you from getting killed! It's _you_ that's holding back, not _once_ since I've been in that house have you been completely honest with me. It's like this whole thing is a game to you, and I'm getting sick of playing it!"

He scowled, "Oh, so now this whole thing is my goddamn fault?! Why the fuck do you bother to stay then if you're getting so tired of me, leave already! Think I give a damn?! I could careless, as a matter of fact make my life easy and leave _tonight_ goddamn it!"

"Oh, trust me I'd have left a _long_ time ago, you're not worth the headache!"

"So why you still here huh? Answer me that!"

"Because I'm in the middle of nowhere, stuck in a mansion with a bunch of dumb shits that can't seem to understand the fact that _I don't want to be here!!"_

"Don't _shout_ _at me _like a fucking spoiled brat!"

"Well don't _interrogate me _like I'm the damn criminal here!" Suddenly the pool behind her exploded, water shot out like a geyser, and like a mini tsunami created a wave that would crash into them. On instinct, X grabbed Raven and tried to run, but was swept away when the wave smashed them to the ground, and drowned them, but never once did he let her go.

By the time it was all over, X was pretty damn sure his world had flipped topsy-turvy when he found himself on his back staring up at the dark blue sky with hints of pink, orange, and purple swirling from the sun that was no doubly setting. He gulped and tasted the chlorine from the treated water and coughed. His right hand was squeezed and when he tilt his head up and to the side he saw a drenched Raven lifting her head up, the make-up from today's shoot wet, smeared, and running down her face. She gasped for air, and slowly tried to let go of his hand, to get off the now wet and muddy grounds.

Carefully, he got up scooting to her side, his once messy hair, now completely wet and dripping, falling over his face and his shirt sticking to his chest. Raven, on her hands and knees, still a bit shaken and embarrassed that she had lost control of her powers, looked up when she saw X scooting closer to her. Softly, in total contrast to their once shouting match he asked, choking a bit from the water, "You alright?"

Raven nodded, "I'm fine … you?"

"I'll live …" both of them still on the ground, face-to-face, X reached out – out of pure impulse – and tried to wipe off the smeared make-up from her face. She closed her eyes, and let him clean her off, before his hand fell and they stared at one another with a pregnant pause.

"…"

"…"

Awkward silence … what happens now?

Well, loud noise attracts attention.

So in a matter of seconds everyone that had stuck around after the photo shoot had gathered around the courtyard and gasped at the sight. Tiffany blinked, and exclaimed, "What the hell?"

Her eyes immediately landed on Raven. Raven sensed her knowledge and was enlightened to the fact that Tiffany wasn't as dumb as she looked. When their eyes met, they immediately looked away from one another; the fear of being found out greater than the fact that it didn't really matter anymore,

Theo gasped, kicked off her expensive heels and trekked the wet ground to try and help James up, but tentative to the fact that she had just got her nails done. So it was like she was more there for moral support, "James … you alright?"

He waved her off, "I'll be fine doll-face."

Tommy rushed into the muddy wet grounds, and knelt next to Rae, never mind he was getting his 500 dollar converse dirty, or ruining his 700 dollar pants, he was just worried about his newest friend, "Oh my god, Rae-Rae are you okay? What happened?"

Still dripping wet and trying to get control of her hair, tucking it behind her ear while glancing up at James, and James down at her both of them trying to figure out the best lie to cover up her stupid mistake of losing her temper. Rae gulped and James sighed, "The fountain …" he answered everyone's question, "… in the pool I mean, the pressure burst and drenched us."

Rae closed her eyes, bowed her head and let James take the spotlight as Tommy helped her to her feet and the both of them walked onto dry ground. The bartender came over more prepared with two towels. Tommy took one and draped it over Rae's shoulders, and tried to warm her up to stop her trembling. She sucked in a shaky breath and smiled at Tommy, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Behind them Rae heard Theo whine, "Aw … do you have to? So soon? Tiff and I were thinking of cruising Treasure Boulevard tonight."

James laughed, "I don't think I'm in _any_ condition to be cruising anything tonight, Thee … but go a head, I'll watch out for Jak."

Theo pouted, "Alright then … I'll see you later, buh-bye."

"Yeah, see ya," slipping off the towel and throwing it back to the bartender, thanking him with a smile. He walked up to Rae's side and again, in a soft tone asked, "You ready to go?"

She nodded and waved good-bye to Tommy; Tommy raised two thumbs up, gave her a big smile, and winked. Rae bowed her head and followed James as they made their way through the house and out the door to his car; Rae reached into her pocket and gave him his keys. He unlocked the car and instead of going around to his side he opened her door and escorted her in, hesitant at first, Rae slid in and reached to close the door, but he did it for her and quickly walked to the driver's side.

Slamming the door shut, he sighed, started up the car and in silence – painful silence – drove them through the Wastelands, back into the city and to his Villa. They didn't say one word, or even look at one another; they just wanted to get back to the house and fast. Lucky for them, X was a smooth enough driver to do so; by the time the sun had finally gone down they were pulling into the driveway. Once the car was stopped Raven got out as fast as she could and rushed into the Villa. Never once did she look back or even notice Jinx when the pink sorceress greeted her, commenting on her wet appearance.

She marched straight to her room, slammed the door shut and locked it.

Jinx frowned, "What's her deal …" about to go find out, she paused when she noticed X walk in, just as wet as Raven, and she blinked, "I thought this was a photo shoot, not a pool party."

X, just like Raven, ignored her, and went straight for his room.

Jinx, feeling put out, pouted and sneered, "Fine, be that way."

--

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans … but I do own everyone else …**

**A/N: IMPORTANT!! … Hey guys … look, I'm sorry if I haven't been updating as fast as I usually have … but I have some family issues goin' on. My grandfather just passed and … yeah … so, I'm sorry okay … I'll try to keep up, (and try to watch for my past and future tenses) but I don't know man … **

**DON'T get me wrong, I'm not giving up on this story … just gonna be a little longer updates, okay?**

**Thanks for understanding … luv'yaz …**

**L8er Daez**


	14. Ask and Receive

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Ask and Receive**

He tossed …

She turned …

He growled …

She sighed …

He couldn't sleep …

And neither could she … but lucky for her, there was a tapping at her window that distracted her. Sitting up, she sighed heavily and glared at her window where Titan Tower stood glowing proud and strong and also where the same falcon as before stood pecking at her window, trying to wake her up. _Fabulous_ … she thought with a sneer as she ripped the covers off her body, and stood up in nothing but her undies she walked to the window and opened it. The falcon coed and wrapped within its talons was another scroll; Raven untied the note, and pet the birds feathers just before it pushed off the ledge and took off into the night.

Raven unrolled it, and read:

_Raven,_

_Sorry to wake you from your slumber Princess, but business is as business does report to White Beach ASAP for a briefing. You're in for a real treat …_

_Much Luv,_

_Bastian_

Raven once again crumbled up the paper and turned it into ash before she turned on her heel and proceeded to get dressed. While in the back of her mind she wondered just how long Bastian planned to keep her. If it was through out the night she wondered if she should leave instructions for Tru's next lesson, and a note to the rest of the house hold telling them not to worry and that she'll be back. Then … she remembered her _'discussion'_ with X and her eyes darkened.

Why bother leave a note?

No one was going to miss her … at least she knew X wouldn't.

Yet, no matter how hard he tried – and trust, he tried _extra _hard – X just couldn't get that argument out of his head. Her words, his actions, her look, his feelings … feelings, damn did it scare the shit out of him to realize that seeing her with that other guy, her _'partner'_ irritated him. How she allowed the guy to hold her, and touch her in ways he thought she'd no sooner kill herself slowly and painfully than to be treated with such affection by another of the opposite sex.

Got him thinking, made him curious to know what made the other guy so special.

That was why he confronted her then, he just wanted to see how far he could push her before she – like many other times – dropped the subject and stormed off. Leaving him with another victory … but no … his plan to get to her backfired … especially when he found out they were investigating him behind his back. Now that irritated the hell out of him … and it was down hill from there. What was supposed to be a bit of harmless teasing turned into an all out shouting-match that ended with both of them looking like asses, very wet asses.

X smacked his hand onto the bed and glared up at the ceiling, as if blaming it of his lack of sleep when in all actuality it was his psyche that was keeping him up. Grinding his teeth, debating, thinking, glaring, and seething, he growled and threw off the covers after muttering into the darkness, "This isn't working …"

Lazily sliding off his bed, he soundlessly crossed the carpeted floor and took a hold of his doors. Slinking out of his room, he tip-toed down the stairs and into Tru's hallway to check up if his sister was alright, around this time of the night she should be getting nightmares. With his hand on the knob, he slowly turned it and peeked into her room to find that she was cuddled up close to Jacquie, snug as a bug in a rug. X sighed in relief, Tru never gets nightmares when someone is in the bed with her … and though Jacquie may be annoying as hell, she had her uses when she slept over on occasion.

Gave X a break for once.

Jacquie sighed and shifted under the sheets, Tru grumbled, but relaxed as soon as Jacquie stopped moving. X silent closed the door, the silence so deafening it was easy to hear a pin drop … or a door on the other end of the house open with a soft _click_. Quietly, X walked out of the hall but stopped and waited to see who would come out, and just his luck, it was Raven.

With her long hair tied up messily, wearing what looked to be a black sports bra inside of a fishnet blouse that hung over her right-shoulder. Snug black jeans that hugged her lower waist and her trademark gold belt with the red jewels. Faintly, X wondered if it was worth anything to her, in dollar value, and personal value. She always seemed to be wearing it.

While he wondered he casually strolled out of the shadows and purposefully leaned on the portion of the rail that squeaked which gave away his position. He watched her stop in mid-step and jerk back to look up in his direction, rigid and tense as if prepared for a fight. She relaxed as soon as she realized who it was, but then became awkwardly uncomfortable, while X just stared at her with a dry unreadable expression, but she knew what he was thinking. She knew what he would say before he even said it, "Going somewhere?"

Simple enough to answer right?

Raven took a deep breath, steeled her emotions and with a stoic look of her own she rebuked, "For a second I thought you actually cared."

"Only when you're sneaking out in the middle of the night dressed like that."

Was that an insult?

Was he trying to start trouble again?

Most likely … probably … maybe … even X himself didn't know, but he did know the words came out softer than he intended. Raven sneered, "Go back to sleep X, I'm just going out to see Bastian and Malchior from the DA for a briefing. Besides … what I do with my life doesn't concern you."

"I think it does if you're going out to investigate me again."

"At least you _know_ what I'm up to," Raven scoffed and continued down the rest of the stairs, however, once she reached the bottom a shadow dropped from the indoor balcony and stuck a silent landing. X smoothed back his hair as Raven gave him a narrowed look, more than likely trying to deduce if he learned that little trick from either his father, or his nephilim brother. She'd be wrong on both counts; her attention was drawn to the black-jade ring hanging off the gold diamond-cut necklace around his neck resting on his bare chest, "Is that the Dark Karma Ring?"

He blinked, looked down and held up the ring, then smirked and shrugged, "Yeah … no one wants it so I decided to keep it … what? You want it back?"

"…" Raven sighed and shook her head, "Later … look, I gotta go …"

With that she spun on her heel and with three easy steps she took a hold of the exit's knob, turned it and pulled it open, but it wouldn't budge and for good reason. X, with his height advantage had his hand pressed on the door over her head. He kept it shut as he leaned over her from behind and asked in a low voice, as if afraid of waking anyone in the house, "You coming back?"

Her hand was still on the door knob, it was open, she gave it another yank, but he wasn't making it easy, she sighed heavily, closed her eyes and bowed her head, "I don't know … depends …"

"On …" he urged, he shifted, he was closer to her and unlike other times there was a different charge in the air. This wasn't a joke … her heart was racing, her spine tingling, knowing that he was close enough to feel his body heat, but not _nearly_ close enough to actually _feel_ him.

She looked up at him, over her shoulder, and couldn't help to lean away when she realized just how close he was to her. Her heart damn near stopped when he moved again so he was face to face with her, his free hand moved over hers to pry it off the door knob and weave his fingers with hers. While his other moved from the door to cup the side of her face. His thumb tracing her bottom lip emitting a small gasp from her, and almost forgetting how to breathe as he leaned down ever closer to her. His lips a hair width away from hers, their breath mixed with one another, her brow furrowed and she asked in a tone that wasn't as threatening as she'd like it to sound, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Honestly," he shrugged slowly, his golden eyes glazed over, concentrating on one thing, yet nothing at all, he wasn't even sure he said anything coherent enough for her to understand, "I have no idea …"

Her stomach turned itself inside out when the static discharge of their clashing auras electrified her and made her dizzy. Her rational train of thought was drowned out by a series of rapid fire emotions and desires which spilt forth, and consumed her. She couldn't exactly verify what emotion was hers or if she wanted him as bad as he _needed _her. That need, scared _him_, more than it shocked her to realize that she was actually a figure of stability for him.

She kept him in check, and kept him wondering, guessing, and thinking.

Oh-yeah, now that he thought of it … he was actually scared to admit he honestly didn't know what the hell he was doing, so he shook his head and dropped his hands from hers. Only to cup her face and lean his forehead against hers as he growled in frustration, she closed her eyes and let his emotions consume her … who knows, maybe than she'll be able to understand him more, than to keep on playing the guessing game.

"Fuck Raven …" he muttered, mostly to himself, than to her in distress, "… I really don't know what the hell I'm doing here …"

She could feel it.

She could understand that confusion, and she took a deep breath, hesitantly she raised one hand and tentatively placed it on his face. He leaned into the touch and if he were a cat Raven was pretty sure he'd be purring at her touch … it truthfully caught her completely off guard that he had such a side to him. He always seemed like he was in control of everything around him, new exactly what to do and exactly what to expect in life, but after tonight … she was beginning to doubt that she knew him at all.

"…" she thought of saying his alias … it seemed to be the only name he went by, and the only name appropriate for their twisted enemy-ally relationship. It meant stabled ground, and stabled walls to never cross, to mention someone by name meant to acknowledge the fact that they existed beyond the boundary of business. Raven sighed, and for once forwent formalities, "Ryan …–"

That was all she managed to mutter before the door behind her was knocked on, X on instinct grabbed Raven and moved from the door, visitors at this late of the night weren't exactly common, even for him. Raven let him hold her, but only because she was trying to decipher why it was she couldn't feel the visitor's aura. It wasn't until he called out her name, did she understand why, _"Raven! I know you're standing right there, now open the door, it's urgent!"_

Raven let go an easy breath and slid from X's arms, "Malchior …"

X arched a brow, "Who?"

"My partner," Raven reminded him as she walked to the door and grasped the handle.

X scoffed and rolled his eyes, the spell from earlier broken, but lingering, "Oh … you mean your boyfriend."

Raven shot him a warning look, "Stop it."

He shrugged as she opened the door and was met with a breathless Malchior that looked like he had flown miles to get where she was standing, "We have trouble."

"When don't we?"

Malchior sneered, "You won't be giving me that kind of attitude when you find out Bastian got into a bit of trouble waiting for you … as a matter of fact, did you know you're _ten minutes late_."

Raven disregarded everything else Malchior said after he announced Bastian was in trouble, "What happened, what's going on?"

"Hell if I know, one minute we're sitting and waiting for you, the next demons from the azraelite clan approach the shore and demand for you." Malchior scoffed, "Why they'd bother to directly attack the Disciplinary Agency is beyond me."

"They're following the command of their Lord," Raven added mostly for her own thoughts as she turned to X and assumed her position as a DA, "X, I need you to stay here with Malchior –"

Ruby and golden eyes widened in disbelief, _"WHAT?!"_

She ignored them, "– Malchior, make sure _he_ doesn't go anywhere."

X scowled, "Oh you gotta be shittin' me!"

Malchior growled, "Raven … be reasonable."

Raven glared at the both of them, "That wasn't a suggestion, I gotta go."

She maneuvered around them and leapt off the stairs, and into the air, flying away despite X's call, "Raven!"

And Malchior's plea, "Wait!"

To no avail she was gone.

X snarled impressively for a human, "This. Is. _Bullshit!_" He turned to Malchior and narrowed his eyes on Raven's _'partner'_, "You're just going to let her do this?"

Malchior rolled his eyes and shrugged, "What _can _I do becomes the question… she's technically my boss."

"I thought you two were partners."

"In a sense, but she outranks me, and besides that I'd rather not get involved with clan wars … brings everyone down."

X shook his head, "What, the _hell_ are you talking about?"

Malchior shot him a dry look, "You _do _know that the little bird is a demon, correct?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything."

"Oookaay … _aaand?_ Doesn't that grant her immunity or something?"

"…" Malchior arched a brow and tilted his head, "You're brother is a nephilim … and you never once noticed the bitterness the world has towards his like … towards his family … towards your _mother."_

"This has nothing to do with my family."

Malchior smiled something wicked, his eyes twinkling with a secret he dare not tell, but would be delighted to dangle in front of X and watch him squirm to know what it was. No doubt, the secret was juicy, but he'll save it for later, it wasn't his secret to tell anyway, so instead he shrugged and walked into the house. His ruby red eyes drifting up the second floor, through the darkness he saw Tru and Jacquie, kneeling on the floor peeking around the corner, trying not to be seen, but trying to eavesdrop. Whether or not X knew they were there – he didn't – didn't matter to Malchior as he turned on his heel after X closed the door behind him.

The dragon snickered and crossed his arms over his chest, lifting a clawed hand to the side of his face to mimic thought, when X scowled, "What do you know …"

In a sing-song voice he teased, "More than you apparently …"

"Spill. I got all night."

"Sorry, _friend –"_ he hissed through bared teeth, "– but my lips are sealed."

X didn't know what the hell was keeping him from literally prying open the dragon's mouth to get an answer from him, but somehow he managed to cool off his tempter and let Malchior slide for tonight. Being a thief had its perks, patience was a skill he forced himself to learn in the passed years, for now, he'll sit and wait for the opportune moment. His golden eyes darted up to the second floor were a hint of life captured his attention and he scowled when he knew exactly who it was, "Jacquie … Tru, both of you better be in that room and fast asleep or you're gonna get it."

Jacquie popped out of hiding and stuck out her tongue in defiance before marching back to the room, Tru on the other hand, stuck around for a little while, clutching her book to her chest. Her cinnamon eyes cold and unyielding as she stared down at her brother's guest, Malchior smiled forcefully and bowed in greeting, Tru sneered and looked down at her brother, "Shouldn't _you _be asleep as well _James?"_

X matched his sister's look, "To bed, _Tru."_

Tru scoffed, but argued no more and followed after Jacquie back to her room, in the back of her mind wondering why was it in the first place she woke up. It wasn't the knocking – she awoke earlier than that – it wasn't her brother checking on her – she awoke a few minutes after the fact – and it wasn't Jacquie's tossing and turning. No … something else woke her up … a feeling akin to her dreadful nightmares … only more … _real._ She shook her head and dismissed it as nothing more than ridiculous paranoia accumulated throughout the years of her not-so-relaxed-and-carefree childhood. Honestly, what kid could grow up healthy and happy with two brothers that attract trouble like moths to a flame?

It would be no surprise she'd develop a sense of acute paranoia.

--

"There's a fine line between stupidity and loyalty gentlemen, and I suggest you not cross it." Sharp neon-yellow eyes darted back and forth among the young demons hissing and snarling. His silky long fiery red hair pulled up in a neat pony-tail, further more enhanced his sharp features. Though tall, slender, and agile, he was lean and his posture was nothing to joke about. Clutched in his left hand was a long sheath with two golden tassels and snuggly tucked inside was a no-doubt sharp katana with a beautifully braided handle.

The leader of the rag-tag group, though intelligent enough to stand back and let his minions do the harassing still lacked the brain-function that would tell him he was about to die when he grinned a fanged grin and sneered, "Elves, your era has long since passed _relic_, why don't _you_ stand down and tell us where the Princess is. We might just let you go with little more than a bruise or two for inconveniencing us."

Bastian scoffed, "No dice."

"Than it's winner take all, and majority rules."

"_I wouldn't bet on that!"_ Through a black hole ripped through the temporal-space of existence, a dark black bird-of-prey shot out and brought with it the shadows of hell that swooped into the clearing and screamed at the demons surrounding the elf. The leader hissed and leapt back when the shadow dared to swipe at him, and though he dodged the indirect attack meant to scare him off. The aura left behind was powerful enough to bring his men to their knees. That inconceivable amount of pressure pushing down on them, literally winding them breathless and gasping for air that for some reason did not exist.

That pressure was the power of the half-breed when she allowed her demonic blood to take full command. It demanded power, authority, respect, and unflinching order or else be crushed under the weight of her world, the black bird screeched and in a swirl of darkness the Princess of Hell dropped from the sky to stand beside Bastian. Her four glowing scarlet eyes seeing all and knowing all watched as the azraelite demons withered in the wake of her dark and evil power.

Even Bastian flinched a bit, "Mm … I forgot how unnerving that trick of yours was Scathe … nice to see you again by the way, you look good."

Raven shot him a mean look that could turn angels to stone.

"That little show was entertaining, for a _half-breed_." The leader said with a grunt as he tried to shake off the feeling of dread in his veins coursing through his veins and sinking into his heart when Raven locked him with all four of her glowing red eyes.

Her tone as cold as ice, she demanded, "Where's your Lord, his impudence amazes me and I wish to tell him so in person."

The leader flinched again when her aura flared and whipped him, reminding him just who the superior was. Half-breed or no, Raven was the child of one of hell's Demon Warlords, meaning she had the power and the authority to take him out and still be within legal grounds. The leader knew this, but demons and loyalty – surprisingly – had strong ties, he'd die for his lord, and not regret it, "He's busy."

Raven sneered, flashing her lethal fangs, and lifting up her right hand, tensing it as her claws grew out and hardened. Bastian, beside her reached for his katana, his left thumb ready to flick out his blade as soon as Raven gave the go-ahead. She was the DA that handled demonic affairs, and since this concerned demons, Bastian followed her lead. Raven with a quick sweep of the demons, sensing their hesitation and growing fear she established this would be a swift clean-up … Bastian got the message.

She growled, "Then you'll pay for his crimes, and for directly addressing me so informally, you'll pay for your arrogance."

Without warning there was a sudden explosion somewhere on the beach and sand rained on them. It distracted the group long enough for Bastian to push his katana out. Grasping the handle and in a flurry of quick and sudden flashes of glinting metal four demons screamed in pain, and in a matter of minutes the rest of the group were much the same. Raven vanished from sight and appeared beside the leader, who was clearly not prepared for the fight – correction: _execution – _these young demons had no chance against the experience of a seasoned DA.

His shock overcame his guard, and never knew what hit him when Raven used her sharp claws and swiftly stabbed through his back, through his heart, and out his chest. Blood spewed out of his mouth in a gargled cough, everything went cold, then numb, and then blacked out. Raven ripped her arm from his chest and flicked the blood from her person, using her power to clean it off. She looked up to watch Bastian finish off the last of the problem and with a quick sweep to be sure everything was accounted for – and dead – she dropped her demonic act with a heavy sigh and became once again human.

Bastian flicked his blade and slid it across his sheathe before sliding it in and snapping it shut. Turning on his heel he looked at Raven and tilted his head, "So … did you find out anything?"

Raven shook her head, "He was too confused to give me a coherent thought … apparently, he couldn't understand why I didn't bring an army of my own to fight off their rebellion."

"Rebellion?"

"… They're not working under Lord Azrael's order …"

"…" Bastian blinked, then blinked again and scoffed with a tilt of his head, "Well … that is peculiar … and here I thought demons knew their place with their lords …"

"They do," Raven reassured, but with a deep frown, "but under certain … _conditions … _do demons stray from their master."

This was new to Bastian, his yellow eyes expressed intrigue as he asked curiously, "And that condition would be …"

Raven felt a shiver go down her spine at the very thought, but she had to say it, despite how much she didn't want to believe it, "… If Lucifer assumed command."

**--**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, but I do own everyone else …**

**A/N: Sorry I took so long to update this one … my dad is my grandfather's eldest son, and our family tradition calls for my dad to make the funeral arrangements and everything. Which means I had to help out in any way I could to make sure things went smoothly and painlessly.**

**Besides that … I think you've all noticed the change I made with Jacquie's name, and how it has an added 'c' in it.**

**Damn do I feel so stupid for misspelling my own character's name, ugh, so sorry for the mix up, I hope you can forgive me, as well as my miss use of future, past, and present tense.**

**Trust, I am trying to catch those mistakes, and I thank you for that little piece of input (you know who you are).**

**So in closing, thank you all for your support, I luv you and you know it :)**

**L8er daez**


	15. Surreal

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Surreal**

Tru slipped into her room and closed the door searching for Jacquie, she found her going through her pants pocket and she scowled, "Lyn, one of these days you'll be going through the devil's wallet."

Jacquie ignored her and her eyes lit up when she found what she was looking for, a golden charm-bracelet with seven teddy-bears all of them gold and within their grasps, they held a heart-shaped diamond. She threw Tru's pants to the side and slipped the bracelet on, "Why don't you ever wear this thing? You do know that it's meant for your wrist not your pocket."

Tru's scowl darkened and she threw her book on the bed, marched up to Jacquie and ripped the bracelet from her wrist, "I already warned you once not to touch it!"

"What? It's just a bracelet that Uncle Ryan gave you," Jacquie scoffed and shrugged her shoulders, "Knowing him, he probably stole it."

"He didn't steal it." Tru advocated for her brother, vehemently defending his name against Jacquie's thoughtless statement, "I told you already … it was from our mother, all her jewels she left to Ryan …"

Jacquie arched a brow and tilted her head, "Why? You're the girl, what good does it do Uncle Ryan besides pawning it off?"

Tru frowned … she didn't want to admit to Jacquie that she had thought of that same question since her mother's death. For that matter, why wasn't she left anything from her mother period … nothing … not a damn thing! Tru sucked in a deep breath, and blew out slowly and evenly to forget about it. Now wasn't the time to think on it, she shook her head and slipped the bracelet on for now as she crawled onto her bed to grab her book. Jacquie followed after her and put a hand on her shoulder, Tru looked into her blue eyes, and felt comforted in her friendly smile.

Jacquie may at times go overboard with her nonchalant offhanded words, but one thing was for certain, she was loyal … and more a good friend than a nosy brat. Tru had a feeling that when she grew up, she'd be the kind of girl with a brutally honest personality mixed in with condescending arrogance … it'll get her killed one day, but that's why she'll be hanging around Tru. Their relationship – just like Felix and Tiffany's – will be one of convenience, and Tru will be happy with that.

Jacquie giggled and shrugged, "Whatever right … it's just a stupid bracelet …"

"… Yeah …" Tru looked at its golden shine, and sighed, "Just a stupid bracelet …"

She sighed heavily and looked to her window with a tilt of her head, was that tree shadow always that shape? She didn't know and when Jacquie smacked her on the head with a pillow accidently knocking her book to the ground it distracted her from further contemplation as she grabbed her own pillow and participate in a good old pillow fight. Keeping Jacquie at bay she unhooked her bracelet and moved to put it in the nearby nightstand, but it fell out of her hand and landed somewhere in the jumbled sheets. Jacquie whacked her head and tackled her down, Tru gritted her teeth and forgot about the bracelet, for once, she can be a kid and for this once she knew she'll regret it later.

--

He was a thief; patience became a well developed skill throughout his years of perfecting his 'art' … but that patience can be challenged if he deemed an issue important enough to worry about, and Raven being gone for so long was pushing the right buttons. In the middle of the living room, while Malchior lounged on the plush cushiony couch examining his claws, wondering how exactly dirt got under the nail when he hasn't been exerting himself in an strenuous activities. His ruby red eyes glanced up when he heard X sigh heavily for the umpteenth time since Raven's departure.

The dragon snorted, "Even a mother hen gives her chicks room for independence …"

X shot him a dark look, "What?"

Malchior tilted his head back against the back of the couch and stared up into the high ceiling, his well enhanced sights seeing into the very fine detail of plaster, he yawned lazily and lazily replied, "Raven, can very well handle herself … trust we've gone up against the Princess more times than we care to count – and lost – would have told you that."

X snorted, "She had her teammates to fallback on, I don't exactly count that as a one-on-one."

The dragon grinned, "Oh, but was I speaking of physical battles friend?" He chuckled and jerked his head up so he could watch X's facial expressions change from one emotion to the other as he said in a dismissive tone of voice, "No doubt she'd gotten under your skin in the short time she's been with you, it's technically her job to … just like its your job to play games in order to stay on top of people like her who try to understand your psyche."

Slowly, X found himself scowling; his words came out slow and firm, "Don't try to analyze me."

Malchior snickered, "Is it _I _that you should be saying this to? Because from this point of view it looks like she's the shrink and you're the patient finding it hard to climb over your little hurtle that is change. She's there to help you change … and your safe zone once you encounter those scary emotions such as humility. Oh, come now X, don't tell me you haven't noticed."

X gritted his teeth and swallowed his temper, but couldn't swallow his agitation, "Have you ever had anyone kick your ass for talking too much?"

"Ooo … did I hit a nerve?"

"No, but you're getting pretty damn close."

"Careful now … wouldn't want to wake the kids."

"You make it sound as if I care."

He laughed quietly, "And here I thought you were the loving brother."

"Keep it up and you'll see …"

"I don't very much care for idle threats."

"That wasn't a threat, that was a promise."

"Oh … should I be worried than?"

X scowl darkened when he realized the bastard was enjoying this! He shook his head, "Your partner just went out to do God-knows-what, and you want to play fuckin' mind games with me?"

"Who says I'm playing anything?" Malchior chuckled, "I'm doing my job, picking up where she left off … only, I prefer the more direct approach … it's much easier to see one's character under stress … mental or otherwise, and so far you're coming off as a bit typical, boring actually."

"Go to hell."

"I'm already there." X gritted his teeth, his hand instinctually placed on a random glass decoration in the living room, gripping it tightly the temptation to fling it across the room proved great. Malchior could see it in his eyes and he smirked daringly, "I dare you."

He thought about it …

Considered it …

Wanted to do it _SO_ badly …

The bastard probably deserved it, and his grip on the little glass décor tightened, Malchior chuckled, but blinked and his grin dropped as his head snapped up towards the stairs. His body went rigid and his brows furrowed, the corner of his lips turned upward in a fanged sneer as he slowly stood up and held up a clawed finger to X signaling him to be quiet and to wait, "I need you to hold that thought … seems like we have visitor …"

X loosened up, but gritted his teeth hating how Malchior could sense trouble in his own house before he could. Silently – surprisingly so for a human – he walked around the furniture to stand beside Malchior who was standing at the thrush-hold of the living room, looking up at the second floor leading to Tru's hall. X frowned and whispered, "What is it?"

Malchior tilted his head and shrugged, "I don't know … but it feels like my little bird's back …"

"You mean Raven?"

"… It's different though … stay here …" without moving the air Malchior leapt from his spot and suddenly appeared on the second floor casually strolling down the hall for Tru's room. The scent, the aura it was coming from there … but the problem was, he couldn't tell if Tru or Jacquie were still _in_ the room … this intruder's energy masked the entire hall. Malchior paused for a moment when the aura flared in agitation, and X appeared beside him once more, Malchior growled in his chest, "I told you to stay put."

He scoffed, "Sorry mother, I'm a little hard of hearing."

Malchior snorted, "Then you wonder why the world's out to get you … at least stay behind me, I'm a little more durable than you."

_Click._ Malchior looked down at the glinting double-edged knife in the thief's hand; he snickered and continued his soundless trek down the hall. Once he reached the door, he stopped and leaned against the wall, then glanced at X and gestured for him to call out to Tru. X did so without rebuke, "Tru! You awake? Open up!"

"…"

There was no response … X frowned; he knew his sister was a pretty light sleeper; she would have woken up by now. That look of doubt and dread was all Malchior needed to go on, pushing off the wall he moved X out of the way and without hesitation kicked the door open and rushed in expecting the worse. Although no harm came to him, and there was nothing to be confronted … other than the empty bed pushed up against the extreme right wall, Malchior frowned. The severity of the situation registered before X could search the room for the intruder, only to realize that his sister and her friend were missing.

Malchior stepped up to the closed window and examined it as he pulled out a cell phone from his pocket, a nifty little device he found rather amusing and useful. He speed-dialed Bastian, knowing that he was probably still with Raven, he'll kill two birds with one stone. The phone rang three times before Bastian picked it up, _"Malchior … this better be important."_

"Oh, it is." Malchior glanced at X when the reality finally slapped him in the face and he stood in the middle of the room staring at the empty bed, frozen and speechless, _Finally._ Malchior sighed, "It appears one of our targets is missing along with a child-civilian."

"_Missing? Under your watch? That's not going to look good on your record."_

"My record doesn't concern me … but what does is the fact that the kidnapper has a signature very much similar to my little bird's, is she still with you?"

"_Why yes, as a matter of fact she is … and I might as well tell you that she suspects something rather chilling is taking place within the demonic and angelic communities."_

"And what's that?"

"… _Oh, a religious war … nothing too new considering their tension has been tight since the dawn of time."_

Malchior scowled, "You make it sound so casual."

"_Trust, it's not … it's actually quite frightening since we now know the demon lords no longer control their clans, but the Prince of Darkness does."_

"Prince of … you mean Lucifer?"

"_The one and only."_

"… How can this be news? Doesn't he reign over Hell?"

"_Yes, but according to your _'little bird'_ Lucifer has no power in the demon clans unless he takes command after his chain has been broken."_

Malchior frowned, "So I'm guessing he takes precedence over a missing child?"

"_Afraid so … unless you can prove she's some how connected to Lucifer's sudden release."_

"Guess I can't."

"_Then cut your strings and fill in for Raven at my side, she's gone back to the Villa to say her goodbyes."_

"Understood." Malchor flipped the phone off and looked up at X who had fell back on the bed and put an arm over his eyes, he just laid there looking numb and _feeling _numb.

X took a deep breath and sighed heavily before saying, "Let me guess … since Lucifer's about to take over the world my sister suddenly isn't as important as we all thought she was."

Malchior shrugged, "I just do as I'm told … you're on your own."

With that said the dragon walked out of the room without much hesitation or remorse, he walked into the main-hall, and then looked over the rail of the second floor to the door that opened and watched Raven slip in. She looked up at Malchior and the dragon tilted his head in curiosity before he threw himself over the rail and silently landed before Raven as she crossed the entrance towards the stairs. He reached out and gently took a hold of her wrist to catch her attention before his hand slid down to hold her hand and pull her towards him. She followed without protest and asked quietly, "Is X up there?"

Malchior nodded and kissed the top of her head to whisper into her hair, "Don't stay long love …"

Raven leaned away from him as he let go of her hand, his ruby eyes looking down at her in warning, as he slowly walked to the door, as if giving her time to think and follow him. Never mind checking on the human, never mind her concern, she had bigger things to worry about … Raven took a deep breath and sighed with a shake of her head. She couldn't do that, leave without saying a word … it didn't seem right. So she let Malchior walk out as she dove further into the Villa to find X … it wasn't hard to, she could feel him inside of his sister's room.

Sulking and hating the world as much as he hated himself for being such an imbecile.

She slipped into Tru's room, eyeing the broken door curiously before deducing that it must have been Malchior taking _'careful'_ precautions, after all, his message on a similar aura trait was right on the money. Whoever was here really did mimic her trait impressively, it annoyed her, but she'll worry about it later, right now X, still laying on the bed concerned her the most for she knew how close he was to his little sister. Knew how he felt about not being able to protect her more efficiently.

It killed him every time she was taken from him.

Raven knew this without him having to say a word, and he knew she knew this, but did he care?

When he moved his arm from his suddenly dull golden eyes, Raven chilled at the fact she felt he didn't. He didn't care about anything … not even his own life … she literally flew to him and sat on the bed next to him. She was never one for pep-talks. She was never any good at it (you can ask Starfire and she'll vouch for it). Raven frowned, thinking to hell with it she'll keep it plain and simple, "X –"

She should have known it wasn't that easy keeping things simple, "Ryan."

She blinked and looked down at him as he slowly brought himself up to sit beside her, his head bowed, his hair shading his eyes from her as he breathed tiredly while rubbing his eyes and repeating, "My names Ryan."

Raven nodded, "Okay … Ryan, I –"

He cut her off again, "Stay."

"Huh?"

"I need you …" he looked at her and her breath caught in her throat, because he meant it, from his heart and soul, he needed her more than he himself knew, then he shrugged and became once again aloof, "I mean I need your help … your _boss_ may not think my sister is important, but she is to me."

"…" Raven looked away and closed her eyes to form the right words to say, "X …" she opened her eyes and narrowed them when something caught her attention on the bed that changed her thought process, "… my job is to ensure the safety of all mortals … I can't play favorites …"

X sighed and turned to her to make his case, "Raven –"

She raised a finger to silence him, "… But I'm also a Titan … and I can't ignore anyone who comes to me and asks for my help …" she paused to lean back on the bed and grabbed the golden teddy-bear charm bracelet, waving it in X's face she continued, "… especially since your sister's kidnapping has something to do with the safety of life on Earth … your father gave this to your mother, am I correct?"

X stared at it for a moment before reaching for it and taking it into his hands, playing with one of the teddy-bears, remembering how his father scolded him for being so rough with it, telling him to never again touch it otherwise he might break it. How ironic of his mother to leave her jewels to him – including this – after the event of her suicide. He frowned and nodded, "Yeah … yeah he did … what has this got to do with my sister?"

Raven took a hold of one of the teddy-bears and explained, "This isn't just for decoration … that contains one of the seven virtues meant for containing an evil entity, in order words a very powerful concealment spell with a side job. It feeds power into the chain, otherwise known as the broken link that bounds Lucifer to Hell. I don't know how your father got a hold of it, but I bet it's been his bargaining chip in the immortal black market."

X scoffed in doubt, "This little thing held Lucifer in place?"

"It's apart of it … probably the part that broke off ten thousand years ago."

"Excuse me?! Ten thou – are you trying to tell me my father isn't _human?!"_

Raven rolled her eyes, "No! Just because the chain broke ten thousand years ago, doesn't necessarily mean your father was right then and there when it happened. It could mean he stole it from some one else, most likely from a very prominent demonic clan."

X nodded, and stood up, "Alright then, we find the clan, we find Tru and Jacquie."

Raven stood up with him, "It's not that simple … it wouldn't make sense for a demon to steal back a chain that could bound their lord and master back in Hell for all eternity. If anything the angelic community would have more motive to take the chain back."

"Then they hired a demonic muscle to do their dirty-work."

"If that's the case why take Jacquie … or Tru, when all they had to do was put a sleeping spell on them and look for the chain instead."

He smoothed back his hair in frustration and clenched the charm-bracelet in one fist, "Then what else do I have to go on! They didn't leave a note, a trail, nothing! Shit, I'd be happy with a threat as long as I have some sort of … _clue!"_

Raven gulped when the weight of his emotions hit her full force, she furrowed her brows and backed up as if the distance would help her breath, it did and she sighed, "X, I need you to relax … we'll find them … I know for sure they aren't dead if the bracelet is still here. Whoever took them will use them as leverage, so try to sleep it off for tonight, alright?"

"Sleep it off? I like to see you try to sleep at all when your sister's taken from you for the umpteenth time, and with Jacquie to? I'll never hear the end of it from my brother or Tiffany, great, just fabulous. Why is it always my goddamn fault?" X stormed out of the room, Raven followed after him.

She grabbed a hold of his elbow in the middle of the hall and pulled him back to face her, "It's not your fault your sister was taken … if anything it was mines … that ambush with Bastian was most likely to lure me away from you."

X pulled his arm away from her, "What is this, the retarded version of the blame-game? _It's not your fault, it's mines …_ come on, gimme a break, I'm not that pathetic."

Raven leaned away from him and sneered, "You know … you can really be such an ass at times …"

She shook her head and tried to move passed him, not at all in the mood to deal with his attitude, but he blocked her, "Okay, okay, I admit, that was uncalled for."

"… Riiight … goodnight." Again she moved around him, but this time he snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her back against him.

With a hand on the side of her face and before she knew what hit her he kissed her square on her lips, softly at first to get her full attention – it most obviously worked – he let it sink in and when he pulled away she was speechless, mindless, and numb. He whispered gratefully, "Thank you."

Breathlessly, and robotically she replied, "Your welcome …" then blinked her violet eyes and slowly shook her head, cutely she tilted her head and asked in earnest confusion, "Did … did you just kiss me?"

He grinned devilishly, but shrugged nonchalantly, his bangs falling to partially shield his glowing gold eyes from her, "Maybe … what do you think?"

"… I think …" she tried desperately to look for the right words to say … but fell short – _miserably_ short – and gave up before she made herself look like a fool, "I think it's late and we _both _need some rest, so goodnight X."

"Ryan," he corrected in a husky whisper, his lips hovering over hers, their breath mingling, and somewhere in her distant mind she sensed one of his hands press against her lower back, pulling her closer till she was flushed against him. She felt her face heat up – along with the rest of her body – as the hand that was on the side of her face weaved fingers into her hair, "My name, is Ryan."

"So you've said …" tried to lean away from him, but he held her in place, his hold on her even tightening, she bit down on her lower lip and put her hands on his chest to try and push him away, "Uh … you can let me go now."

He nodded, as if contemplating the pros and cons and smirked, "I can … but what if I like you just where you are?"

She frowned, "Well I don't, so let me go and we don't have to suffer the consequences if this goes too far."

"Too far huh … and how far is _'too far'?"_

Raven tried again to wiggle from his embrace; he loosened up, but didn't let her go, like he refused to let her escape his grasp. She sighed and shook her head, then pinned him with a dark look in her violet eyes, and warned him in a strict tone of voice, "Don't push it and we won't have to find out."

He tilted his head and shrugged, "You act as if it's so bad to like me, I'm a thief not a murderer."

"It's not just bad, X, it's dangerous. The technicalities behind a relationship with me are not only complicated, but impossible to get around."

X arched a brow, "Technicalities? What kind of technicalities would hold you back from living your own life?"

Raven again shook her head, "I told you, it's complicated … all you need to know is that I'm under more scrutiny than any other half-breed alive because I hold a high position in the demonic hierarchy."

X remembered a few things Malchior said, things that at the time he thought made sense like _'outranking'_ him, he figured was because Raven was in the system longer than the dragon. However, Malchior called her _'Princess' _in what X thought was mockery, but with the new string of information he speculated that it was actually her title. He went on a head and asked her, "High position huh … like what … royalty?"

"…" she glanced away and nodded solemnly, "Something like that … those who don't know my name know me as the Princess of Hell … a stupid title, but yeah … it pretty much hits the nail on the head. I'm respected, and feared … never liked, or loved …"

She finally slipped out of his arms, and shivered when a cold chill raced up and down her spine from the lack of warmth … in all honesty, she suddenly felt so lonely. It was nice to be held, to be treated like she was wanted … but as some famous scholar or philosopher once said: Good things never least. So she got over it quickly and steeled her face from any expression that might give away her secret longing to be held and loved again.

Although, when she looked into his golden eyes, she felt her steel mask rusting at the intensity of his gaze as he tried to understand her. She frowned and shrank away, figuring that since she was free from his grasp, now was the chance to get away, with a silent goodnight she quickly walked down the hall towards her room. She tried not to run from his penetrating eyes that burned holes through her ice-cold heart to see into her soul. Not even Robin's cruel, white mask could see through her defenses, even with their bond he never phased her the way X could make her suddenly so conscious of who and what she was.

Raven barely got passed the indoor balcony when she felt his hand wrap around her wrist, but unlike Malchior that gently tugged to get her attention, she was yanked back so hard she fell back into his arms. Her eyes widened when she felt him crush his lips against hers in a more demanding kiss than before, his arms wrapped tightly around her, crushing her against him and unwilling to let go, despite her whimper of silent pleas. She closed her eyes tightly and tensed up, _No … don't do this … please …_

He pulled away and she bowed her head into the crook of his shoulder and neck, "… Ryan, we can't do this."

Damn it, she wasn't supposed to sound so helpless!

"Why not? Because you're some royal of a fiery pit?" He scoffed and nudged her up so he could see her face, his passionate eyes scared her when he smirked, "Please _Princess,_ get over yourself, you're not the center of the universe, not every body's eyes are on you … just mines."

Why the hell did he have to be so arrogant and smug about everything?

Raven sneered and rolled her own set of violet eyes, "As cute as that sounds you're being overly optimistic about this … but …" she hesitantly relaxed her tense posture and settled into his embrace before she shrugged, "… Truth is stranger than fiction."

He snickered, "That's my girl."

She shot him a sharp look, "I'm no one's girl."

"Yeah …" He lowered his face to hers, and she sucked in a deep breath, her lips parted and tingled in anticipation when she felt his lips hover over hers in that smug little grin of his, "… keep telling yourself that …"

She controlled her racing heart, her short of breath and whispered defiantly, "I will … now if you'll excuse me, I have two little girls to worry about, relationships are the farthest thing from my mind right now."

"Yeah … _suurree …" _He chuckled and finally let her go on her way, watching as she entered her hallway, and without looking back – like the cool cucumber she was – she walked into her room and all but fell apart at the seams. With her back against her door, she closed her eyes and leaned her head back as her face relaxed into a tired, guilty expression. She reopened her violet eyes she stared into nothing as she shook her head at the memory of something X said earlier, just before she left.

She scoffed and sneered, _Damn … what the hell am _I _doing here …_

**--**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, but I do own everyone else …**

**A/N: Heh ... sorry this one took so long, forgive, forgive it's fourth quarter and I'm a senior, and, well you can imagine I don't wish to become a super-senior, so I'm studing hard to make sure I graduate.**

**ANYWAY ...**

**Well, well … a new development, what next? **

_**'I wonder, I wonder,'**_** says the reader with interesting clues, **_**'I wonder, I wonder,'**_** says the author asking for reviews, because in truth. You know she luvs you.**

**Heh, I'm such a poet and didn't even know it, lol**

**L8er daez**


	16. Family Affair

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Family Affair**

"So you're sticking around?" Bastian asked while leaning against a tree trunk looking over the cliff and out onto the early morning horizon. Raven stood next to him, tenser than usual as if waiting for his lecture or disappointment to strike. He just sighed lazily and nodded, when she replied silently with a nod of her own, "Well then, I guess I'll send word to the Committee to dispatch all units to investigate all leading demon clans and angelic families. Shouldn't take long to find the girls, so long as you and the human take care of the link …"

"It's in good hands."

Bastian scoffed teasingly, "_'Good'_ wouldn't be the exact word I'd use, but we'll go with it for now …" he chuckled as Raven rolled her eyes; a moment of lighthearted familiarity fell over them. However, it was gone before it had a chance to progress. Bastian took a deep breath and quickly exhaled with a shake of his head, pushing off the tree he stood up straight and tall, towering over Raven he stared down at her with his warm, but sharp yellow eyes. Like an older brother looking out for his baby-sister he tilted his head and asked, "I mean no offence Scathe … but you seem to be getting close to this. I don't doubt you, never have, I'm just … _concerned_ is all … is everything alright?"

Raven gulped and seemed reluctant to answer the question, she even looked away from him in deep thought, honestly contemplating what to say to him to reassure him that she had everything in order … or so she thought. That personal doubt flashed in her violet eyes and Bastian frowned when she turned away from him to stare at the ocean, she cursed herself for doubting her abilities. Bastian arched a brow, "You, of all people that I know of, know the consequences of personal involvement within assignments … if you don't think you're up to this, no one is going to blame you. Just say the word and you're free to go."

"It's not that simple Bastian," Raven scowled and roughly pulled back her hair to get it out of her face as the wind whipped it all over the place, her angry violet eyes glared at the ground, "I can't just walk way from it … those girls were taken because I never took into account that Lucifer could be behind all of this, I –"

"Stop," Raven looked up when Bastian stepped closer to her and placed gentle hands on her shoulders, he made sure he had her full attention. He tilted his head; some of his fiery red hair blew in front of his face and enhanced the color of his bright yellow eyes. It reminded her of a life-giving flame that could make or break her if she didn't do everything perfectly.

She furrowed her brows and bit down on her lip to keep a scowl from her lips when Bastian chuckled at her, "Scathe, really, there was no way – _no way_ – possible you could have known the outcome of things past. I've told you this once, and I'm going to tell you again and again until you understand that life is not set in stone … you take what you're given and you work with it. Now, no more nonsense, get to work, if you need me you know how to reach me. Good luck."

He pressed his forehead against hers and let his aura mingle with hers to reassure her that everything was going to be fine, for that moment, she believed him. He pulled away and without looking back casually strolled into the deeper, darker parts of the woods the Villa was nestled in. Raven sighed heavily and smoothed back her hair; she gave the ocean one last thoughtful look before she turned away and proceeded into the Villa. She wondered if she should call her friends to check on if whether or not she'd need their help, _On second thought … I'd rather not involve them with this … I don't want them to get hurt …_

"There you are!" Not three seconds into the house and Raven found herself swamped by Jinx who rushed down the stairs while X poked his head out of the kitchen to see what was going on. He arched a curious brow, most likely wondering what the devil Raven was doing outside. Raven sighed when Jinx leaned into her and asked worriedly, "X told me what happened last night, about Tru and Jacquie, why didn't you wake me up? I could have helped …"

"Jinx, the shields you put around the house did nothing to defend the girls to begin with, I think you've done enough." Her tone was sharp and cut through Jinx like a jagged-edged knife. The hurt and pain was quite evident in her pink eyes, but they were winked away and replaced with the embers of scornful anger. Raven took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, "This is why I hate emotions … look, Jinx … it doesn't really matter what happened last night, the damage was done,"

She left it at that, least she open her mouth and say something to cause even more trouble. Whether or not Jinx felt like she should get into an altercation with her was left up to her, because Raven left her to enter the kitchen. Jinx, as reluctant as she was to let a few good comebacks go, dropped it all and followed Raven.

The sorceress barely spared X a passing glance as she made herself a cup of water to drink. Faintly she wondered why he was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt, with a charcoal gray t-shirt on the outside with some logo of some band on the front. To top it off he was in dark blue baggy-jeans, it was summer, wasn't he hot? Of course, Raven was never one for style, so the question quickly enough eluded her care, for now she had other things to worry about, like Jinx when she leaned on the center island and frowned, "So we are going to do something about this … right?"

Raven gulped and sighed, "Something is already being done, I just spoke to Bastian and he's taking it up with the Disciplinary Committee, they'll be interrogating every prestigious clan and family suspected of their abduction."

Jinx shook her head, "You lost me at Bastian, who's he?"

"He's her partner or boss or whatever where the DA is concerned," X answered offhandedly then directly questioned Raven, "So that's why you were out there?"

Raven narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Is there a problem with that?"

He shrugged and leaned against the thrush-hold, "I dunno, I mean what's with all the hush-hush when we already know about everything going down, why not invite him in?"

"…" Raven blinked and then made a face before glaring darkly beyond the two of them when the doorbell rang.

_Ding dong …_

It wasn't urgent.

_Ding dong …_

Neither was it demanding.

_Ding dong …_

Jinx headed for the door and opened it on the third ring, it had to be answered some day or the other, and she didn't want Hedrick to be scowling at them again. Slowly, hesitantly she peeked through the crack she made in the door and arched a brow when an unfamiliar face – yet strikingly familiar – stared down at her with an impatient glare. For a moment she thought the gentleman was an older version of X, but when she realized he had jade-green eyes she arched a brow, "Uh … can I help you?"

His lips smiled, but it never reached his eyes that had a cold hard glare in them even if they stared at her with an almost nonexistent expression. It unnerved Jinx that someone as handsome and stunning as he could be so cold, but then again with her profession it wasn't something new. His voice was as smooth as a rare wine, and as bitter once the aftertaste hit in the back of one's throat, "Yes, you can, is my brother in?"

Jinx blinked her pink eyes, for a second she lost all brain-function and she nearly completely shut down in shock when she realized just who she was talking to. Lucky for her, she had a quick recovery rate and she shook herself out of her stupor to smile nervously, "Oh … wow … you must be, um … Felix … right?"

Felix tilted his head and a long clutch of pitch-black hair that framed his face fell to cover his left eye and he winked his right while grinning devilishly, proving that good-looks really do run in X's family, _Lucky bastards, _she thought, envious of Felix's silky-long hair, "That I am Ms. Jinx, now may I speak with my brother?"

"Oh … right … your brother …" Jinx opened the door wider to allow Felix inside at the same time she made a face at X and Raven who stood at the kitchen entrance and glared at her and Felix. Well, X was glaring at Felix, Raven was just watching and observing like she usually does, drinking in X's older brother she had to admit, he was good enough to eat. He was stylish and hot as hell, even with his long silky hair that reached passed his waist and pulled into a loose ponytail, held together with a black ribbon … not something common in today's day-n-age.

Some strands of his hair fell over his delicious jade-green eyes; he brushed it back behind his ear as he locked on his little brother, "Ah, Ryan … there you are, and here I thought I'd have to come look for you somewhere in this big house."

X scowled and spared no formalities or manners, "What the fuck do want?"

"Careful now little brother, there are ladies present." That was when his green eyes darted to Raven and he bowed his head in respect, Raven nodded hers in acknowledgement, "Ms. Scathe, good to see you're still alive and well."

Raven sneered, "Alive, yes. Well, not so much."

"Oh, well that's too bad."

X's glare darkened as he turned to Raven, "You've two met?"

Raven shrugged nonchalantly, "During the time your brother was hunted down, I along with Bastian was assigned to ensure his protection and all together halt every assassination attempt against him. Usually the DA wouldn't meddle with those kinds of affairs, but it was spilling into human religious influences and therefore a dangerous threat to society as a whole. You see, nephilims aren't meant to exist, and neither are they accepted by the churches' take on pure and holy angels, you can imagine the chaos it would bring if it were ever proven that angels aren't as perfect as the bible says so."

"Well said," Felix nodded and stood close to his brother, while Jinx stood next to Raven who leaned away from the tension between the two brothers. The static charge was suffocating her, and Jinx was still in awe at the way the two brothers looked so similar … they could have been considered twins if it weren't for their height different. X was a rusty brown, unkempt and unruly, Felix was a solid black, kempt and tamed, plus he was obviously taller and older not to mention his spice of arrogance was more indirect whereas X almost all-attitude, all-the-time.

Polar opposites, but the same … try to make sense of that.

X returned the attention to the unanswered fact on why his brother was still here, "You know … you still never answered my question."

"Oh?" Felix sneered condescendingly, "Was it really a question? Or was it just another one of your riddles I have to solve in order to understand exactly where you're coming from."

"Quit messin' around, what the hell do you want?" X's eyes were on fire, any hotter and he'd quite literally melt his brother into a puddle, but his brother countered with a mean look. The hostilities grew, Raven backed up and Jinx followed her lead, not exactly keen on the idea of getting in the middle of a sibling squabble.

Felix scoffed, "What I want is to set the record straight and to make sure you didn't fuck anything else up."

X scowled, "What?!"

"Allow me to put it in ways you can understand," faster than X could react, Felix grabbed fists full of his brother's shirt, swung him around and slammed him against the wall. X grunted in discomfort as his brother growled in his face. Unbeknownst to either of them, the Dark Karma Ring on the diamond-cut necklace around X's neck started to spark an eerie dark-purple. Felix never knew what him until his entire body was suddenly wracked with pain, he shivered, and his grip on his brother tightened, his eyes bled over to black as he glared at the ring around his brother's neck and he hissed, "I knew you were stupid enough to steal it, I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to wear it."

X gritted his teeth when his brother applied pressure, it didn't hurt, but it was uncomfortable. With his hands going to his brother's wrists, careful to watch for the claws, while he noticed his brother's sudden pain-filled expression he scowled, "Yeah, so …what's gotten into you?"

"It's the ring, you insufferable whelp," Felix grunted as the effects slowly wore off, "whatever physical harm comes to you, or is directed at you will come back ten fold to the assailant."

"Oh," X snickered darkly "nifty little trick, lucky I kept it."

Felix snapped at him and an almost inhuman facial expression of pain and anger contorted on his face, "Why is it you think everything is a goddamned joke?! Tru and Jacquie are gone! Did you honestly think you can get away with not informing me of their abduction?!"

That touched a nerve.

"Get the fuck off me!" X shoved his brother away and matched him glare-for-glare while he straightened out his shirt, "I don't have to tell you every goddamn thing that goes on with my life, so Tru and Jacquie are gone, I _will_ get them back."

"Your word isn't good enough _little brother."_

"Well deal with it, cause' that's all I got for you for now."

"You … _really_, seem to be missing the _point_ here …" slowly, threateningly the words were snarled from Felix's lips, Raven glanced down at his hand when she saw it tense. His nails no longer nails but sharp claws, that was her cue to step in.

She stepped up, her movement caught both their eyes, but she glared warningly at Felix, her own clawed finger pointed at his hand, "He may be your brother, but he's still a mortal, so put it away."

Felix arched a brow and questioned that warning with a look, but she was unmoved. So in compliance he relaxed a bit his eyes faded back to cool-green and backed off, but his attention was still on his brother who seemed irritated that Raven saved his life. The sorceress glanced at X, but addressed both brothers, "Now let's be clear here … the only thing we should be exerting our energy on is the welfare of the girls, anything else is irrelevant. If we have to have this discussion again I'll do more than put you both in separate corners. Am I in anyway way unclear?"

As the gentleman Felix was he straightened up and bowed his head, "Clear as a bell Scathe."

Raven was satisfied she won't be hearing anything from him, but when X scoffed she had a feeling he'd be more of a handful. She looked back at him and watched him smooth back his unruly hair while his golden eyes lost their animosity, but gained a new sense of suspicion, "Hey … if you're here … than where's Tiff –"

He couldn't finish his sentence, because just then the door was slammed open and a pissed off Tiffany with her dark blue eyes locked on X marched in. She pointed a perfectly manicured fingernail at him as her heels clicked threateningly with every step she took, "You. Sonuva_bitch!_ I trusted you to take care of my little sister!"

Just as she got to the center of the main-entrance, Theo rushed in and gasped when Tiffany closed in on X, "Tiff! Wait! No!"

She was ignored as Tiffany's hand was cocked back for a one good slap, her hand came down, but Theo grabbed her wrist and held her back. Tiffany growled and swiped her nails at him, but fell short and instead cried out when a wave of pain suddenly stabbed at her soul. Felix rolled his eyes, bowed his head and massaged the bridge of his nose, "Tiffany, I told you to wait in the car."

Though in pain, Tiffany scowled at Felix, "I'm not your damn dog you can command to do whatever you want."

Felix snapped at her viciously with his eyes flashing pure black for a split second, "Then stop acting like one."

Tiffany winced, then sighed when the pain subsided and she scowled, "What the hell was that?!"

"Ryan was wearing the Dark Karma Ring," Felix informed, and that was all Tiffany needed for her to redirect her scowl/glare at the younger of the brothers, otherwise known as her brother-in-law, or as the twisted little family referred to jokingly her _'outlaw'_.

Raven watched the scene play out carefully and noticed that there was a underlining cause to this sudden visitation, she glanced at X and knew he knew it to when his golden eyes narrowed skeptically, "Okay … I get him –" he pointed at his brother, "– I get her –" he pointed at Tiffany, then looked at Theo and jolted his head to the side, "– but what are you doing here?"

Theo opened her mouth to respond, but Tiffany jerked herself out of her grasp and answered for her, _"She's _how we found out Jacquie's been taken from under your care."

X arched a brow and looked at Theo for an explanation, but she hesitated to do so when she shot Raven an unsure look. Raven narrowed her eyes and with her aura, demanded she tell everything she knew, it came as a chill to the aspiring-young model that shrugged, "Last night … when Tiff and I went to Treasure Boulevard we ran into Giovanni, he invited me to a catwalk at seven tonight, you know, to fill in for a model that didn't meet with his standards. Well … I over heard this conversation between Melanie Hanabusa and Tranika Macadagon – you remember them right?"

X nodded, they were elite models on the rise to the top, but they were also vampires that belonged to a gang – not a clan – that broke all the rules to get what they wanted. Like fresh blood straight from the source. Theo chewed on her lower lip and shrugged again, "Well … they were talking about the show tonight … and Melanie said something about a killer after-party where Inferno was going to present her a couple of gifts, two innocent girls for her own pleasure. It didn't seem like much to me, ya know …" she looked at the stoic Raven timidly, then continued when she found she couldn't hold the half-breeds harsh gaze now that her disguise was down, "… but I figured it was worth asking since Giovanni is a good friend and I didn't want him to go down if there was a raid … I asked, and they snickered about how Felix was going to get his just deserved."

Tiffany finished for her, "It was all down hill from there, you can imagine it was a short leap from one conclusion to the other."

X frowned, "So this whole thing isn't about the bracelet?"

Felix sneered, "What bracelet?"

X opened his mouth to respond, but Raven cut in, "On a need to know basis," she looked at Theo, "This, _'Inferno'_ … by any chance is his real name Ethan Norton?"

Theo nodded, and glanced at X suddenly so shy and insecure; she chewed on her lower lip and took a deep breath before she slowly released it. Raven recognized it as a form of meditation to keep her relaxed and calm. It was in total contrast to Felix's suspicion and Tiffany's suppressed rage, however what they all shared was vacillation with her presences. So she looked over at Jinx and the pink sorceress got the message and followed her away from the group into the living room to allow the _'Family'_ to have their little meeting.

The moment they were out of sight, Theo narrowed her eyes on Ryan, her expression not of anger, but of disappointed betrayal, "Why didn't you tell me she was a DA, and Scathe at that … was she the reason you were asking me all those questions yesterday?"

Ryan shrugged dismissively, "Part of it, but I wanted some of my own answers, Thee."

Felix furrowed his brows, "You seem to be taking her presence in stride, if memory serves well, don't you have a problem with authority?"

"Doesn't mean I hate the person as a whole," Ryan countered, "she's been more help than a problem, unlike _some_ people I could mention."

Gold eyes clashed with jade-green as Felix sneered, "You're making excuses, I know you, Ryan. She probably snuck into your little contest as a way of investigating the shooting at Ocean View. You have a thing against losing and her being able to sneak in undetected was a literal slap in the face to your ego, a point for the good-guys."

Ryan scowled, "Is there a point in there somewhere?"

Tiffany growled impatiently, "Look, I don't give a damn if Ryan joined with the Titans or whatever, I wanna know how to get my sister back!"

Felix hissed, "Tiffany, _dear,_ there is no need to panic … Ethan will be handing over the kids tonight, so we can safely assume they'll be alive until then."

"You don't have to assume anything," the three looked up when Raven's voice carried across the main-entrance from the living room, she flashed them her T-com – which neither comforted them or informed them of anything – she enlightened them, "I got a call from an agent confirming your story on the girls, he's been tracking a trail, but couldn't make a move unless he knew for sure they were in danger."

Tiffany growled, "Don't you people talk to each other? Didn't he send out a damn warning saying that a couple of human girls were found in the hands of vampires? Or are you freaks as incompetent as you are indifferent."

Raven arched a brow, but her cold violet eyes said everything else as she shifted from Tiffany to Felix, "I've informed the agent to remain in position till a couple of colleagues of mine or myself arrive first on the scene. So unless we all would like to stand here and fruitlessly insult one another, I suggest the brothers come with me."

"Oh you are _so_ not leaving me here like some helpless lady-in-waiting!" Tiffany defiantly argued.

Theo stepped up as well, "I can call my father, he can send in some help."

Raven shook her head, "Don't bother, if one of your men already went against your father, what's to stop the rest of your clan from falling apart … and you –" she turned to address the scowling Tiffany, "I won't risk your life, just because your emotions are telling you to be there."

Felix nodded, "She's right Tiff."

Tiffany clenched her fists and spun around to glare at Felix, "You know damn well I can take care of my damn self! I don't need anyone to worry about my well being!"

"Suicide missions aren't exactly smiled upon within the Disciplinary Agency," Raven shrugged offhandedly as Tiffany gave her a taken-back look, as if she didn't know whether or not to be insulted or shocked Raven actually had the audacity to say what she did.

"_Excuse me!"_

Raven sneered, "Humans are impulsive … why do you think we set up rules and boundaries for mortals and immortals alike, there is no telling what would happen within situations like theses."

With every passing word that slipped Raven's lips Tiffany's anger was rising higher and higher, "_'Situations like theses'_? My sister isn't a _'situation'_ alright, she's my _sister_, but I don't expect a bitch like you to understand that when all you care about is technicalities and probabilities, fucking numbers, not lives or the families connected to those _innocent_ lives!"

"Then you should have thought about that before you got into illegal transactions between worlds," Raven argued, her voice never rising a single octave, remaining calm, cool, and collected. Her points expressed through her sharp dagger eyes that not even the defiant, fiery, and passionate Tiffany could withstand, "That is the cruel truth of _this _reality you live. Immortals don't operate by emotion, they operate by what is worth the trouble, and the truth is a couple of human children aren't worth shit if they don't have anything valuable on them. Now, unless you have something useful to tell me, I'm leaving."

There was an awkward silence in the house as the once fierce Tiffany lost her steam and her strong wall came crumbling down when her shoulder's sagged and shuddered when her head lulled forward and dropped into her hands. X will be honest with himself right here and now, he felt for Tiffany … he knew what it was like to feel utterly helpless in the face of supernatural beings knowing they held all the cards. As he silently walked around Tiffany, he put a hand on her shoulder, just to let her know that despite the fact they don't get a long most of the time her frustration was felt.

Theo looked up at X and followed him out of the house when Felix, in one of his rare moments of expressed compassion, held Tiffany in a warm embrace. Though it was nice to know that Felix wasn't a complete iceman, she knew Tiffany had too much pride to be seen in such a weak state, and so she stood on the patio with Raven, Jinx, and X. Feeling awkward and uncomfortable, she scooted closer to X and breathed a little easier when X spoke up against Raven. "You know … Tiffany can come off as a bit strong, but she's still human."

The cold and emotionless half-breed that had the entire world fooled, the kind of being her father warned her about, glanced at X out of the corner of her eye and nodded, "I know … that's why she needed to understand what she's gotten herself into, just because she's with Felix doesn't guarantee her anything." She then looked a Theo, "You might as well step back in the house and tell those two to set themselves up somewhere and to stay safe while we take care of everything else."

Theo nodded obediently, it was the smart thing to do for her, but she had a question of her own she needed answered, "Alright … but why does, um, Ryan have to go? He's as human as I am."

Raven sighed, "True, but you don't have his skill, and neither do you have the ring to aid you in your time of need."

"… Fair enough I suppose …" Theo frowned and weaved her fingers into X's hand, X held hers and squeezed in reassuringly before she let go and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, "Be careful alright …"

X snickered softly, "Aw, come on Thee, you act like I've never done this before."

"Yeah … but … this time it all feels very different, something just doesn't feel right to me."

"You worry too much."

The door opened and Felix stepped out, Theo pulled away and looked from him to Tiffany, who quickly slipped on her shades to hide her puffy red eyes and her running mascara. With a jerk of her head she flipped her hair over her shoulder and smoothed it out as she walked out with her head held high, proud and fabulous. She stood a good distance away from Raven, no doubt feeling wounded she huffed and crossed her arms over her chest as she waited for her car to pull up.

Felix looked to Raven and tried a little trick he learned from his past experiences in life, her touched her telepathically. She arched a brow when she felt the tug and narrowed her eyes on him, then aided him and met him halfway to help boost the connection, _"Is there a reason for this?"_

"_Precaution."_ He responded strongly, _"Just to let you know, Tiffany will be taking Theo to a safe location for them until this whole thing blows over."_

"_So you say,"_ Raven disconnected, and Felix blinked a few times to get use to the feeling of being shut out.

He tilted his head, "So I take it you understand than?"

She nodded and the car finally came around. Tiffany, wasting no time in marching down the stairs, grabbing the car-door handle and jumping in, waited for Theo's company. Theo bit down on her lower lip and looked up at X who gestured for her to follow after Tiffany; she did so reluctantly and closed the car-door after herself. As the care drove off, Raven linked back with Felix so suddenly he felt his head spin; he had to close his eyes to keep himself from literally swaying, _"I need you to show me the location of Giovanni's residence."_

"_Wha … why?"_

"_Because he has a lot of explaining to do …"_

"_Okay … but why do you need to know when we can drive there?"_

"_My method's faster."_

There was hesitation before he finally gave in and Raven had to concentrate harder to help smooth out the images he was giving her. Since he still has a long way to go in the art of telepathic-communication it was almost garbled, although once given the information, Raven took a deep breath and looked at Jinx, "You sure you want to come?"

Jinx shrugged and grinned, "Why not, I wanna see how this DA thing works out. Who knows, I might ask for an application, sounds fun ya know."

Raven rolled her eyes and turned to X, with a hand on her hip, she nodded at him and he smirked already knowing his answer before she asked, "And you … you sure you want to do this?"

His grin grew and he winked, "You got to ask princess?"

"Yes, actually I do."

"Then let's go."

"… Alright …" her eyes glowed white and a dark shadow erected from the ground in the shape of a jagged raven with glowing red eyes that flew over the group and encased them in darkness before taking off into the bright blue skies.

--

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, but I do own everyone else, including Tiffany, Theo, Felix, Tru, Jacquie, Giovanni, and Bastian )**

**A/N: Ah yes, sweet-16, at least we now know what the Dark Karma Ring does, very useful no? What I'd do to have that power, so that the bastard who gave me this goddamn illness can die ten times over for making me so miserable!! Ugh … but, yeah, updated, so review, tell me whatcha think and we'll see what happens next.**

**L8er daez**


	17. Within the Detail

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Within the Detail**

"It's amazing how fast word gets around," Bastian smirked as he leaned against the gate of Giovanni's mansion, his flaming red-hair, though neatly tied up in a high ponytail fell over his shoulder. The elf, tilting his head to the side and gazing up at the dragon perched upon the gate who was crouching and keeping perfect balance. Bastian snickered, "Wouldn't you agree?"

Malchior glanced down at the elf then shrugged indifferently, and responded with equal indifference in his tone, "Nothing new."

Bastian pouted, closed his eyes and bowed his head, "You're a bore in the morning, Malchior."

"Naturally."

"Uh … that wasn't a compliment."

"You say that as if it'll make any difference once you confirm the real purpose of your supposedly hurtful words."

"…" Bastian scoffed, "Dragons … always have to be so technical."

Malchior sneered, "Elves … whimsical creatures whose naivety drove its own kind into hiding once it was learned of the humans growing numbers."

Bastian frowned, "Well, if you think of it like this, Malchior, at least when I plan to leave this world I have somewhere to go … your kind fought themselves into near nonexistent folklore … where do _you_ have to go?"

"Nowhere," Malchior smirked, "humanity is on the brink of the ultimate destruction and I plan to see it till its very end if all else fails … ah, there she is."

Bastian looked up and watched the abstract raven shoot across the sky and straight passed the gate into the courtyard. Malchior fell back and with the reflexes of a cat he landed on his feet from the 50ft drop, on the other side of the gate. His ruby red eyes glanced over his shoulder at Bastian. The elf, nimble and quick cleared the gate with a single bound, his hand gripping the top bar, helped to flip him over and land silently on the cobbled ground. Dusting off the imaginary dust on his shoulder, smirking and shrugging innocently, the dragon tilted his eyes up, and shook his head.

The raven relinquished her darkness and released her burden, Felix shuddered, X hissed and furiously rubbed his left arm to gain back the heat he lost from that cold and unforgiving-everlasting night, Jinx just sighed and took in her surroundings. Her pink eyes looked up as Raven slowly drifted to the ground and turned her attention to Bastian and Malchior.

Bastian chuckled and spread his arms wide open as a gesture of warm welcome, however, it was hard for X to feel welcome when in his left hand there was a sheathed katana with two golden tassels glinting in the morning light, "Ah, better late than never, eh, Scathe … you were always one to make an entrance." His yellow eyes shifted from the stoic Raven to the rest of the group, "Nice to see you again Felix, trust you've been keeping yourself out of trouble?"

Felix smirked, "No comment."

"Expected as much, and for those of you who don't know, I am –"

X quickly interjected, "Bastian, yeah, I figured as much, but what I don't get is why we're at Giovanni's place."

Put out from his interrupted introduction, Bastian left the explaining to Malchior.

The dragon sighed dryly, "Giovanni's a devote Devil worshiper, well on his way to becoming the Dark Pope."

Jinx and X's eyes both widened, _"WHAT?!"_

Felix arched a brow, "Mm … didn't see that one coming. That's news to me, and I've known Giovanni for a while."

Raven crossed her arms over her chest, "Obviously not well enough, but other than that, if anyone'll know where Tru and Jacquie are, it'll most likely be him."

"Wait," Felix narrowed his gaze on Raven, "are you telling me that whole thing about the agent on call was a lie?"

"No," Raven responded with reassurance, "It's true the girls are held up somewhere, but Ethan – as I'm sure you know well enough – has ware and storehouses as well as blood-banks stationed through out the nation, do you expect the DA to search them all?"

Bastian stepped in and wrapped his arm around Raven to pull her away from the agitated nephilim, "Easy now Scathe it's still so early, no need to get into an altercation before lunch, ne?"

Jinx snorted and muttered as she followed the two up to Giovanni's doors, "A bit late for that warning."

Felix fell into step, still feeling sour from Raven's new piece of information, his jade-green eyes drifting to his brother and the dragon and noticing the dark cloud of static charge swirling around either of them. He pounded the reason that caused their animosity for a few seconds, but gave up and leapt up the flat Spanish-steps and he stood next to Jinx as X and Malchior stationed themselves at a tense-filled distance. Raven felt it and shot both of them warning glares, Malchior arched a questioning brow as he shrugged an innocent shoulder.

X just shook his head and furrowed his brows, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out familiar gray gloves with red x palms and slipped them on. It occurred to her right then and there that the reason he was wearing a long sleeved shirt, was because the red x suite was probably under it. Whether or not he expected a violent outcome was beyond Raven, but at least she was grateful he was prepared. His expression though determined and serious, his golden eyes glinted in the daylight, waited with eager anticipation.

She should have expected as much.

The sorceress sighed and rolled her eyes, Bastian at her side chuckled, "So, on your word Scathe, how do want to do this?"

"Well you already cut off his security like I asked?"

"Yep."

"Then he's already spooked … let's give him something to cry about," as she said it her fangs slowly grew out, her nails lengthened and hardened, she closed her eyes, squinted them and reopened all four scarlet-red angry eyes. An evil aura shrouded her and she stepped down then nodded for Bastian to ring the doorbell. Raven touched Malchior's hand and it was enough to send the dragon a message.

Malchior, unwrapped his wings and took to the air leaving the elf – along with everyone else – feeling uncomfortable with Raven's presence as Bastian rang the bell and waited for an answer.

Surprisingly enough, Giovanni's voice called through the door, _"What do you want?"_

"I'm Bastian from the Disciplinary Agency, and I need to ask you a few questions."

"…"

Bastian frowned, "Giovanni Doucette?"

"…" still no response, but the door made an unwelcoming triple – _thonk!_ – sound that signified the lockdown sequence to the house was initiated.

Felix scowled, "He's running."

"He won't get far," X summoned an x adhesive and smacked it on the _'doorbell'_ he knew to be connected to the electrical-circuitry of the lockdown, the shock scrambled the code and they were granted instant access into the house. Bastian, of course went first, his right hand clenched on the braided-handle of his katana as he scanned the area for anything suspicious.

"Clear."

Meanwhile, around the back of the house, Giovanni jumped out into the lani and headed for the one place that'll guarantee his safety. Too bad he didn't account for Malchior literally dropping from the sky and using his left wing to smack the human across the face, hard enough spin him to the ground. The dragon snarled and crouched on the ground, he jolted his head to the side as he grinned a fanged grin, "You keep knocking on the devil's door, someone is bound to answer."

Giovanni, though still a bit disoriented scrambled back, and jumped to his feet to escape back into the house, thinking that maybe, just maybe if he could get a hold of one of his guns, he'd be able to free himself from despair. He got as far as the living room, he turned over the cushions and found his black browning hi-power 9mm handgun, grabbing it, he quickly stuffed the barrel in his mouth. However seconds before sliding his shaky fingers into the trigger loop Jinx snapped her finger. The sliding glass windows shattered inward with enough force to knock Giovanni to the ground and the gun out of his reach.

Bastian rushed in to subdue the crazed human, but as a passing whisper congratulated the stunned Jinx, "Good work."

Jinx blinked, feeling slightly numb after what she almost witnessed, she looked at X and shook her head in disbelief, "Did he … almost … _why?_"

"Don't try to understand it …" came Raven's haunting voice as she levitated into the room, looking displaced and listless despite the energy flowing all around her. Her hair floating aimlessly around her head and shoulder, creating an almost deranged and crooked halo as all four of her scarlet eyes glared at the struggling Giovanni, "… you'll get no where. Bastian, his mouth, restrict him from biting off his tongue."

Jinx gulped and shuddered at the possibility of biting one's tongue off, "Jesus …"

Just as Bastian moved to rip out one of the golden tassels from his sheathe Malchior roared in pain as a creature not of this world jumped him from behind and with pitch-black-rotten-poison-laced-jagged teeth tore into his flesh. Out of fury and pain he was able to tear off the four legged monster and throw it into the pool. However, that didn't stop two more of the beasts to leap into existence and drop him to the ground to tear him apart.

The supernatural beasts were _huge_; they made the liger look like a kitten, with their diseased yellow eyes, and big paws with black deadly claws, more of the monsters winked into existence and in no time at all, the group was suddenly surrounded. Malchior managed to escape the jaws of the later two and leap into the house to stand beside the tense Felix, "Okay … this is new to me to … what are they?"

"Shadow Mongrels, Hellhounds, Cerberus Pups, call them what you will, but they're summoned here for a reason." Malchior cringed and held his side where a gash that would have killed a human was quickly trying to regenerate itself, but since the beats' claws and teeth were poisonous it would take twice as long.

Raven scowled, "This _idiot_ probably performed a summoning ritual and called Cerberus from the depths."

Giovanni, once cool and smooth, looked deranged and psychotic as he laughed out loud from the ground, "His Majesty hears my cries for help, and so he sends his servants to punish those who oppose his reign!"

The dogs howled and barked, as if they agreed to everything Giovanni said, Felix winced at the high-pitched whines and glanced down at the hunched over Malchior, "You sure you're okay?"

Malchior grunted, "No …"

Bastian scooted closer to the indifferent Raven, "You're the daughter of a powerful demon, can't you do something about this?"

Raven scowled, "Not unless these dogs were of freewill … or handed control to me."

Her scarlet eyes quickly darted outside the shattered sliding-doors when the water exploded outward and the beast Malchior kicked off stood menacingly glaring at her. She sensed its intelligence, and figured it must be the pack leader. It slowly stalked into room. It pounced on Giovanni and ripped off his bindings with little to no effort, then stepped off to allow him to stand, it held up its head and touched its jagged snout to the tip of his fingers and Raven hissed when she felt a transfer of power. Giovanni looked at his smoky-black hand and an insane grin spread across his face as he slowly tilted his head and stared at Raven, "His Majesty has a message for you Princess …"

Raven snarled, "What could his lordship possibly have to say to a half-breed such as myself?"

He lifted up his hand and snickered, "The message is simple milady … he wants your soul."

He extended his hand, but the smoke turned into a giant clawed talon that reached for her. In a blur of motion, Malchior grabbed the back of Raven's blouse and jerked her down with such force it would have been enough to whiplash a normal human-being. On the ground, she winced when she felt Malchior's sudden dead weight on her; she glared at him, but frowned when she felt her hand caked with blood, his blood, "Malchior …"

The smoky hand collided with the far wall, and literally ripped a new entrance, it was also a sign for the mongrels to attack. Bastian flicked out his sword and threw it into one of the dogs that leapt for Jinx; the beast never knew what hit it until it was literally pinned to one of the walls. The elf nimbly dodged another dog that X cut to ribbon with a barrage of x-blades, he flipped over the thief, grabbed his sword out of the wall and watched Jinx's eyes charge pink.

She brought her arms up and brought down the chandelier to crush Giovanni and the Alpha-dog, but the dog snarled at her and leapt up. It smashed and shattered the chandelier and rained glass all over them. Jinx gasped when she was jerked to the side, Felix grabbed her and spun her to safety as two dogs jumped for her. He rolled and kicked one of the dogs while his brother threw an adhesive and tapped the second dog to the ground.

Yet, despite all of this, for every dog they managed to destroy; another in a puff of smoke rose up in its place.

Giovanni laughed.

All the while Malchior gritted his teeth and forced himself off Raven, he looked down at her with a forced smirked as he fought through the dizziness and chuckled, "My suggestion, run fast, you know what'll happen if he takes your human soul."

"You're in no condition to tell me to run when you need help." Raven cringed when one of the mongrels were thrown into the ceiling by Felix and plaster sprinkled down on them. The corner of her eyes caught sight of the Alpha that signaled for Giovanni to redirect his attention to her. She gritted her teeth and grabbed Malchior as she slid out from under him and dragged him to the far side of the room; he got to his feet and held onto her hand as they jumped over a couch to dodge the talon's deadly grasp.

Malchior made the mistake of dragging his feet and tripped on the cushion, it forced Raven to fling him around and throw him into X's direction. Whether it was pure dumb-luck, or excellent-timing, Malchior collided with X, it took them both down just as two mongrels jumped and smashed into the wall. It left Raven wide open, but the sorceress spun around and fell against the adjacent wall when she saw the large smoke-black hand close in on her. She snarled in defiance and erected a black barrier, but cried out when the impacted was a direct hit to her human mind.

Her barrier weakened as she slumped, in a slight daze, she blinked and looked up when she saw the large talon coming back, she reacted on pure reflexes and rolled on the wall to dodge the hand over and over until she ran out of wall and so she hit the ground. Although, it couldn't have been any better, because the Alpha pounced in front of her and snarled in her face. The stench of death made her dizzy, but the pounding of her heart took precedence as she slowly tried to get up, but the hounds vicious snarling prevented her from moving at all.

Bastian scowled, "Scathe!"

He charged in for assistance, but two dogs blocked him off.

Jinx rushed in to help, but like Bastian was prevented from going anywhere when one of the mongrels barked at her.

Malchior, X, nor Felix could go nowhere neither, and Bastian's scowl darkened, _This is not good … if her soul is taken Lucifer will have complete command over her demonic mind-state, and she's already dangerous enough _without _assistance!_

"What a sight, what a sight," Giovanni giggled manically, his hands still smoking that black miasma of hellish-power. He smirked and stood beside the hound, towering over the sneering Raven, "The infamous Princess of Hell on her belly before my feet … what would your father say I wonder, eh."

He didn't bat an eye.

With a sudden jerk of his arm Raven's breath caught in her throat when his talons stabbed her through her back, through her chest and gripped her heart, no, _squeezed _it. Her mind seized to work rationally and logically as the human half of her existence was forcefully yanked from her body, it desperately tried to cling on she felt herself grab her demon for help. Her demon just smirked and gritted its razor sharp teeth to bear with the pain as Giovanni ripped his talons out of her body, yet at the same time flung her up into the ceiling.

Her body bounced back to the ground, and suddenly all her senses came to life.

Color was vivid.

Sound was pure and crisp.

Taste was unbelievably closely linked to smell.

Touch … her touch was so sensitive it sent shivers down her spine as she gently scrapped her claws across the rug and slowly brought herself to her feet. Wobbly at first … but then as if she felt brand-spankin'-new, she threw her head back and roared with laughter. Confused, X furrowed his brows and whispered her name in question, "Raven …?"

Malchior snarled, "That's not Raven, that's a pureblooded demon."

She calmed down, but that eerie, unnatural grin on her lips sent chills down everyone's spin as she opened her one set of violet eyes, looking surprisingly like her old-self as she tilted her head and clasped her hands together in a prayer like fold. Giovanni bowed on his left knee, "My lady, it is an honor to kneel before you and welcome you into this world."

Raven stepped up to him and presented to him her right hand to kiss, he took it gently and kissed it lightly as the intelligent-hound bowed obediently and Raven smiled warmly, "You've done well to rid me of my abomination, now I shall be able to aid in our lord and master's triumphant return … but first …" her violet eyes narrowed as she gazed upon the five speechless occupants within the room, "… let's be rid of this minor set-back shall we, pet?"

Giovanni chuckled and stood back up, "As my lady wishes."

Bastian gritted his teeth; his grip on his katana tightened anxiously, "Raven … don't do this … _please."_

Raven scowled, "Silence! You dare to address me so informally? You will pay for your insolence!"

The Alpha snarled and the two mongrels who kept Bastian at bay crouched and got ready to pounce; Bastian glared at them, but looked back up at Raven, "Raven! If you turn on me the entire world will be after you! You know the consequences of abandoning the Immortal Code!"

She giggled, "You say that as if Codes, Rules, or Boundaries concern me … I've been restricted all my life, Bastian, but not anymore … _Kill them all."_

"_NO!"_

The mongrels scrapped, snarled, barked, growled, and howled in anticipation for carnage, Giovanni crackled, "Do as your Princess commands! She owns and controls you!"

Raven laughed, "Yes! And I command that you all return to _Hell!"_

The Alpha whined in defeat and suddenly erupted into a puff of smoke, with it, its pack followed suit, and Giovanni spun on Raven in disbelief, "Wha … but … you said …"

"My father is Abbadon, the Demon Warlord of Destruction and Deceit …emphasis on _Deceit._" She slashed her claws twice to lop off his arms stripping him of the power granted to him by Hell's Lord and Master. Then on the third slash she slit his throat and kicked him to the ground. Her violet eyes lit up when his crimson blood pooled on the Persian carpet … so warm … so thick. She brought her bloody-clawed hand up to her face and chuckled, "I will say this … you were definitely devoted … naively so …"

Curiously her tongue darted out and she licked her finger, she sneered in disgust and glared at her hand.

The taste … it wasn't sweet enough … no, not _nearly _enough.

"Raven …"

Her violet eyes darted up when her name was called by a very family voice, she found its owner when his yellow eyes stared at her, his tall and lean body was rigid and tense. He looked as if he was ready to jump out of his pale white skin if she moved the wrong way, it tempted her to play, she smirked, "Don't be too scared Bastian … I only sacrificed years of meditation and self-center control to keep my demon under tight lock and key … doesn't necessarily mean I changed altogether."

"Then change back before you lose yourself."

She at him through her lashes and flashed him a fanged grin, "I want some fun first … can I have that …?"

Bastian furrowed his brows, "Raven … do you really think this is fun? Look at your hands … that's not what you want … that's not who you are …"

"How do you know what I _am."_ Raven snarled.

"_Look _at your hands," Bastian growled and snapped his katana back in its sheath, he crossed the destroyed living-room to grab Raven's wrist and force it to her face, "Take a _good _look Raven, is this _funny _to you?! You may be a demon now, but that is no goddamn excuse for your change in personality, that's all you and your childish notion of fate and destiny! _Look at it!"_

He shoved her and she fell hard against the wall, she snarled defiantly at him and tried to push off the wall with her hands, but slipped when the thick blood couldn't hold her weight. She fell on her side and looked at her hand … but instead of looking away to continue her argument with Bastian, she gulped when flashes of horribly vivid memories both hers and not hers bore into her mind. She felt her heart skip a bit as she scrambled back to her feet, as if to run away from the stained color on her skin.

Raven gulped, closed her eyes and shook her head as she used her power to rid her of its contents, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get rid of the weight … it was so damn heavy! _Oh stop crying! You enjoyed that!_

_Stop it!_

_NO! I'M in control now!_

_It doesn't mean you have the right to kill innocent lives!_

_Innocent my ass! He was worshiping Satan himself, he was asking for it, he would have died anyway … besides … I'm the one you use to kill because you're too much of a coward to do it yourself._

_Think of it as you will, I won't let you change who we are as a whole._

Her body was painfully rigid, stalk-still her hands were balled into tight fists and since her nails were claws it dug into her flesh and her blood leaked out of the cracks of her fingers. The pain felt good, it let her concentrate on something other than the argument in her head, but it wasn't enough. Until a chill raced up and down her spine when someone _dared_ to touch her … it wasn't Bastian … but she knew who it was when she felt him move behind her. His arms snaked around her waist and bravely he pulled her into a close embrace; his lips brushed against her ear and whispered, "The next time you plan to scare the hell out of me, try not to make it look so convincing."

Always so arrogant, always with an attitude, Raven felt herself cool off and leaned into him. Her fists unclenched and the crescent-moon cuts quickly healed over as she sighed heavily and bowed her head. For the moment allowing herself to rely on the strength of someone else to hold her up, "Yeah … thanks …"

"Anytime Princess."

Just like that … the tension dissipated into mere memory.

Jinx and Felix both glanced at one another in bewildered disbelief; Jinx jolted her head to the side and blinked, "Huh … when did that happen …?"

Malchior plopped down on a shredded couch in exhaustion and held his side, the wound still healing too slowly and his head now spinning. He looked over at Bastian who was crouched in front of Giovanni's impressively mutilated body, the elf sighed tiredly and tisked, Malchior asked, "What's the matter?"

Bastian shrugged, "Not sure … but I know I'm not going to like what Scathe has to tell us about Giovanni's last thoughts."

"…" Malchior blinked, then scoffed, "Don't tell me you're getting Spidy-senses too."

"You don't feel it?"

"…"

They both shared a pregnant pause before Jinx's shuffling caught everyone's attention, she jumped into Raven's view and giggled nervously, "Heh-eh … remind me never to piss you off when you go demon … I mean … wow …"

She looked at Giovanni and shuttered.

Raven scowled at her fear, she bared her fangs, "It was the only thing I could come up with on such short-notice …"

X furrowed his brows and shrugged, "Why so tense? You're still in control …"

Bastian, cleared his throat to gain the attention of the room, and to redirect the topic of discussion, "With Scathe it's concerned it's a long and complicated story, one that I'm sure in due time she'll reveal to you soon enough, but not now. Scathe, I need to know where the girls are so we can end this quickly."

Raven snarled, "He didn't know anything about the girls' location, but they do have a use besides leverage for the broken link that Lucifer plans to use on God himself to chain _Him_ to Hell. The girls … one of them will become Lucifer's vessel depending on whoever Melanie doesn't choose to devour at the after-party."

Felix didn't like the sound of that, "Vessel … like … how do you mean …?"

The sorceress shook her head and clutched a fist full of her hair when her demon voice chuckled in her head, _Tell'em … tell'em their fate … I'm sure they'll get a kick out of it._

_Shut up … _she clenched her fanged teeth as she felt another snarl about to throw itself up out of her throat. Bastian egged her on, "Come now Scathe, if it's important, you must tell us …"

"…" Raven sighed heavily once she gained a bit of sanity and smoothed back her violet hair. In defeat she looked up at Felix … then at X and confessed her knowledge, "He's planning to create his own version of the _'Virgin' _Mary for his future anti-Christ."

X's golden eyes shifted to Felix and for once they mirrored each other's expressions, feelings, and thoughts … they were speechless, mindless, and numb.

Jinx gasped and involuntarily a hand came up to cover over her mouth as if to stifle an approaching scream that threatened to come up.

Malchior huffed and leaned his head on the back of the couch to stare up at the cracked ceiling.

Raven's gaze shifted to Bastian, watched him as he fiddled with his sheathe and sword, then looked up at her and shrugged, "Didn't see that one coming …"

--

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Teen Titans, but I own everyone else …**

**A/N: Before you all freak, just calm down and chill, let the story play out and all will be well in the end … O.o … I hope at least, fingers crossed. For now, I thank you all for your suggestions, your reviews, and your lovely comments they always make me so happy, just keep'em comin' and I'll keep right on goin' for now peace out!**

**L8er daez**


	18. Hanging By a Moment

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Hanging By a Moment**

They were back at the Villa.

X, Jinx, Raven, Malchior, and Bastian anyway …

Felix had to return to Tiffany's side to see how she was doing.

But … it was quiet.

Everyone was gloomy and silent, as if speaking would destroy the frail fabric of reality already torn apart by a supernatural war older than time itself. Jinx silently sat at the bay-window twirling a strand of her pink hair in her finger as she gazed out the window at X … or as she now knew him as Ryan. The Prince of Thieves, once seen as unfazed and untouchable, looked very young and vulnerable; he sat atop an almost impossible-to-reach branch and hid away from the world within the leaves.

The only way Jinx knew it was him was his dangling leg that hung limp and unmoving while he dug one of his infamous switchblades into the bark. His golden-eyes unseen with the way his hair curtained over his bowed head … but it wasn't necessary to see his face to know what he was feeling with his slouched shoulders. Jinx bit down on her lower lip and looked away from him, her eyes drifting to Malchior … the complacent dragon.

However, it never escaped her observation that it wasn't only him that was complacent. So was Raven and Bastian, and she just had to wonder how could any one be apathetic under the realization that they could all have been the catalyst which set off the events that would eventually lead to the end of the world. It unnerved her that was for sure.

The dragon hissed and winced, then shrank away from her touch, Raven growled, "Stop squirming."

"Your nails love, you're not watching them," Malchior whined, Raven sneered and reached out to grab his wrist and yank him close to her so she can continue her examination of his wound.

"You're supposed to have impenetrable scales, some dragon you are …" She reached down into a bowl of hot – scorching hot – water that burned her skin. However since her demon blood was in the driver's front seat, the pain wasn't much since it healed fast enough for her to ring out the cloth and gently press it to the dragon's side. There was a rumble in his chest, something a keen to discomfort, but appreciative as Raven cleaned up the poison.

He could feel his body gain back its strength, he hissed again when her claws scrapped his skin, but it wasn't in pain his ruby eyes shifted down to the indifferent expression on her face. She felt his gaze and glanced up at him through her lashes, "Feeling better?"

"… Much," he smirked and with his free hand he traced her jaw-line with his thumb from her chin to the side of her face, he leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers and silently started to purr, "My sweet little bird, why do you worry so much about the one thing that sets you apart from the rest?"

Involuntarily she purred back and found one of her hands resting on his chest, her brows furrowed in distress and she whined, "Malchior … you're not helping …"

"Maybe I am …" he grinned and moved to whisper in her ear, breathing on her neck sending chills down her spine, her grip on the cloth tightened, "… being a demon doesn't make you anything less of what you are … it just means you have the advantage over most."

"I can't be happy with just that."

"Then be happy with what you have …"

"…" she gritted her teeth and dropped the rag back in the hot bowl of water; she pulled away from Malchior and stood up, hiding her claws in her fists she walked away from him and left him as she went to her room to meditate. Her demon was acting up again, it liked the words Malchior spilled into her ear, it liked it a lot, it was tempting her to go with it, to be done with humanity and live as a permanent member of the DA as a demoness with her follower. She knew all too well she had what it takes to command an entire clan of her father's race.

She could show the world a half-breed was nothing to shun.

It was this mentality that she was running from.

Not Malchior.

Jinx, having been witness to this, quickly and awkwardly turned away when Malchior's ruby eyes fell on her in a dry side-ways glance, the outer flesh of his wound finally healed. Though the spot was tender, he was well enough to function properly, he took a deep breath and sighed heavily as he grabbed his torn shirt and slipped it back on, then spoke out loud, "If it'll help to relax you, there is nothing to truly worry about."

Jinx blinked in bewilderment and turned to question him, "Huh?"

Malchior straightened out his shirt as he explained, "There is no way the Disciplinary Committee would allow the use of a human as a Vessel for any ritualistic summoning, that includes the coming of the Anti-Christ, _if_ it's within their knowledge of the goings-on."

Jinx furrowed her brows, "Disciplinary Committee? Isn't it Agency?"

"No, the Agency enforce the Immortal Code, the Committee create the laws, dish-out judgment, and altogether represent a sort of peace meeting between all immortals and few mortals."

"… Oh …"

"So stop worrying."

"…" she looked up at him, and he pinned her with a sharp-pointed look.

"Personally, I think there are worse things to worry about than the Devil himself."

Jinx scoffed and shot him a sardonic look, "Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Humans."

"… What?"

"Humans will do anything to get everything," he shrugged, "of course that's nothing new; it's the nature of the beast. However, what frightens me the most of humans is how they can con themselves into beliefs that I, and many others like myself, find hard to swallow because the logic completely eludes all understanding. Humans are prone to be impulsive and irrational, therefore unpredictable … but judging by your face I guess you've already heard this argument …"

Heard it?

Oh, she heard it alright, but at that moment she thought it was said out of annoyance because Tiffany was grating on her nerves. Jinx never thought Raven actually meant the words that came out of her mouth about humans … it was almost creepy to know that Malchior shared similar views. Made her wonder if that was the way all immortals thought on a regular basis … or if they were _born_ with that frightening narrow, straight-arrow point of reasoning.

Do immortals really only operate based on reason?

How … _inhuman_ of them …

Jinx looked away from Malchior and back out the window, it was easier to get lost in the beauty of nature, than to swallow down and digest reality.

Raven, in her room, levitating two feet off the ground, meditating, desperately trying to talk some sense into herself. Trying to get control of her mind feeling her demon-side building up it's primal lust for blood with the tension in her shoulders since it had physical control of her body. Her human soul was buried so deep she couldn't feel a single bit of human emotion that separated her from being a monster.

She didn't want to be a monster.

"_Fear is actually a good thing if that's where you're mindset is going …"_

"_Bastian …"_ she thought fleetingly, cracking open her eyes, while turning in mid-air to face the door. The elf casually leaned on the wall, arms crossed and his katana ever presently glued to his left hand. He smiled and Raven scowled, "What do you want?"

He sighed lightheartedly, almost wistfully as he shrugged, "To apologize for earlier, I assure you it wasn't to personally attack you, but just to bring your mind back."

"Understandable … and I needed it …" Raven uncurled her legs to stand; she rose gracefully and elegantly, her clawed fingers ran through her hair when strands of it fell over her face. Her violet eyes were always cold and indifferent, but secretly passionate, now they were void of any real feeling, she looked bored, "So what's the status?"

Bastian shrugged again, "There's been a rise in angelic and demonic confrontations since we spread the word of the girls' disappearance, however on the plus side the Seekers are cooperating with us. Apparently the vampiric communities want nothing to do with the whole good-verses-evil battle."

"Good to hear." She turned away from him and gazed out the window, but not just out the window, she was looking for something, something that'll help her _feel._

"…" Inwardly Bastian smiled and shook his head, he tapped his chin in thought, "You know … if you're so worried about feeling human again, than why don't you go back downstairs and distracted yourself … it'll be good for you."

"…"

"I know you're not into the whole socializing thing … but some _human_ contact will remind you you're not a monster."

"…"

"Scathe –" he couldn't finish because Raven had sank into the ground and vanished, Bastian arched a brow in wonderment, then smirked and nodded his head in satisfaction.

While outside, in his own little world, X bowed his head in thought, the top of his battle-suit and the long-sleeved shirt he had worn taken off and hung on the branch, replaced with the gray-black t-shirt. X took a deep breath, and just as he slowly exhaled a sense of familiarity suddenly came over him, like he wasn't alone anymore. He glanced down and froze when her violet eyes gazed up at him with that familiar dry expression, yet, when she tilted her head the motion spoke volumes.

As if urged to, X quickly grabbed up his battle-suit and shirt, leapt off the branch and stuck the landing 5ft from her position. She didn't even blinked, only fisted her hands and then casually moved them so they were clasped behind her as a sign of self-conciseness. After all, her claws were the ultimate testimony of her inhuman heritage. Her violet eyes shifted down to his clothes in his hand and she arched a brow, "If Robin knew you were treating the suit like that he'd throw a fit."

X snorted and tossed the two articles on a lower branch to hang on while he stepped back and casually leaned against the tree trunk, "Featherhead can say that to my face when and _if _he finds out. In the mean time … wasup?"

She furrowed her brows in slight confusion, "Huh?"

He sneered, "Come on … I know you didn't come here to tell me what Robbie might say about me mistreating his toys, and before you get into it, I don't need a pep-talk, I know exactly what's goin' on and I'm ready deal with it."

"Pep-talk?" Raven scoffed and leaned to the side, "with the goings-on, a pep-talk is the least we need, besides …" she closed her eyes and gulped. Literally she tried to swallow her demon-pride to admit it to herself and out loud to him, "… I came out here to see if you were okay."

He blinked, then frowned, "You came out here to see if I was – feh," he shook his head as if the message suddenly sank in and then he scowled at her and with his finger gestured for her to come closer, "Come'ere."

She arched a brow, not entirely sure if she should be offended by such a gesture, but slowly stepped up to him anyway and stood within an inch of him. Her entire body froze when she felt the fingers of his right hand graze her arm as he lifted his hand up to grasp her chin and tilt her head up as he leaned down to kiss her.

With her hands behind her back, she clenched them tightly and shut her eyes to brace when currents of hot sparks electrified her entire body as he pressed his lips to hers. The kiss, his touch, was a lot different than last night and Malchior's affection, not that she was comparing the two. There was nothing to compare, they were just too different from very different worlds, but this is all beside the point. When she shifted as if to move away, his free hand found its way to her waist and kept her in place, not forcefully, but she knew she wasn't going anywhere if he had his way.

And damn did he know how to get his way.

What started as just a kiss to make a statement, turned sensual and tempting, she felt the hand on her chin move to the back of her head tangling his fingers in her hair. She took a deep breath and sighed when he pulled away, but lingered only for a second before he kissed her again and massaged her lips apart. Her shoulders suddenly went rigid when his tongue traced her lower lip and barely grazed her fangs, her eyes nearly rolled to the back of her head as fire erupted throughout her entire body.

Suddenly she could feel his every desire, she knew his every want and need and her demon wanted to prove she could become his darkest fantasy, all he had to do was say when, where, and how and she'd do anything for him. _Anything._ That fact caught her off-guard; she pulled away from him before he could delve-deeper and explore some sweet-spot that would be the point of no return for her and himself.

Though still in his arms, he leaned back against the tree taking her with him, his arms wrapped around her waist; his hands rested dangerously – yet comfortably – low on her tailbone. He let her rest her head against his chest as he closed his eyes and leaned his head against the tree and arrogant smirk playing on his lips that he licked and wished Raven would have let him go further. However, he wasn't complaining, it was amazing she let him get this far anyway, and so he chuckled, "Does that answer your question?"

She sneered and scoffed in his chest, her claws played with the fabric of his shirt, she furrowed her brows and fisted her hands to hide it away when she replied, "Hardly …"

He felt her tense in his arms and he picked his head up to try and see her face, "Hey, what's with you?"

"Nothing."

"Liar."

She growled, "It's nothing, just leave it alone."

"So you come out here to check on me, but I can't check on you?" He scoffed and placed his hands on her shoulder and pushed her away so she had to face him, "Sorry princess, no deal, so cough it up what's on your mind?"

He seemed so genuine that it was hard not to believe him, hard for her to convince herself that he was just saying all this to get something from her. He was, after all, a thief that was out for himself, it would make sense he would only be nice to her because she was his ticket to getting his sister back without concussion. She growled and brought a hand up to her forehead to rub it, she was getting sick and tired of thinking things over, why did she have to be so analytical?

She gritted her teeth and shook her head, "Never mind X, there's no advantage to be offered in knowing my problems, in fact the less you know the better you'll be able to set your sights on finding your sister and Jacquie."

"That's not what you wanna say."

She sneered, "How would you know something like that?"

"Because I can see it," he answered so smoothly and surely it was again hard to counter it, his golden eyes looked at her with such intensity it unnerved her, "it's a habit of yours, when you're not sure it's the answer you wanna give, you ramble, you say more words to get a simple point a cross. Like you could have just said: _'Nevermind X, just focus on finding your sister and Jacquie,' _that would have sufficed, but instead you insisted on mentioning your insignificance to me _personally_."

She just stared at him, her mouth cracked open and eyes slightly widened in awe, as if she's just discovered something incredibly unbelievable about him. X just shrugged and smirked, "What can I say; I know how to play on words too princess."

That wasn't what stunned her, what stunned her was the fact that he actually noticed something as subtle as that within her personality. It made her wonder what else he picked up on while they were together, but feeling ridiculous for staring she shook her head again and pulled away from him, "… Right … and while all that is nice, it's good to know you're not entirely lost in your grief, and can be able to function within our investigation."

He tisked and a hand went up to furiously scratch his head in annoyance as he snapped at her, "You are impossible."

"… Excuse me?" She honestly looked taken back.

"I said your impossible, insufferable," he repeated, his eyes narrowed, "stop thinking for one goddamn minute and notice that you're not impressing anyone … its just me you're talking to."

"And you expect to be treated differently?" Raven scoffed, "You're the _last_ person I should allow myself to be so familiar with."

X scowled, "You were singin' a different tune last night."

"That was then and this is now, if you don't like it, it's not my problem," she squared off with him a moment longer before she sighed, exasperated, and turned her back on him, "this is getting us nowhere, I came to see if you were alright, you are, now I'm leaving, and I suggest you come inside, staying unguarded isn't the smartest thing you've –!"

She gasped when her elbow was grabbed and she was roughly pulled back, practically thrown against the same tree X was leaning on, she bared her fangs and snarled at him when he trapped her in place. One hand flat against the tree beside her head, and the other pointing a finger at her face, to her demon it was a show of domination, he was trying to control her, hold her down and she didn't like it. Everything in her being told her to destroy the problem, but she held back. Killing him now would do her no good.

Instead she settled on one of her infamous glares, cold and indifferent, but up against X's golden eyes, hot and spiteful, it was a wonder she wasn't a puddle at his feet with as much passion she could feel behind them, so alive and so defiant. Each word that came out of his lips was slow and full of emotion that hit her in waves and made her cringe ever so discreetly, "You are just so full of it, do you like come up with excuses in your sleep or something because I gotta hand it to you girl, you got some issues."

"If I have issues than you must be a basket-case for continuing to pursue me," she growled in response, "X, I'm _dangerous_, I thought you've concluded that back at Giovanni's mansion."

"Apparently it escaped your notice, but my life isn't exactly a Tea-Party either."

She closed her eyes and bowed her head in frustration, "He doesn't get it …" she snapped a glare at him and reached her hands up to hold his face, to make sure he was looking her dead in her eyes so he can understand her completely, "Ryan … I could _kill_ you. My fangs could pierce your flesh, my claws can tear you apart, and my powers when my emotions are not in check can destroy an entire city … add that with the fact that my demonic heritage right now takes precedence over my human-soul, I wouldn't think twice if you were suddenly bloodied and _dead_ at my feet. Why don't you _get _that?!"

"…" it seemed to be sinking in, she hoped it was, she hoped he would back off and she hoped he would leave her alone for his own good, but in her case, that was hoping for a lot. He took a hold of one of her hands and kissed it without taking his eyes off her, his cheeky smirk slowly returning to his lips, "Well, then look at it this way … at least I'll die happy."

She rolled her eyes and huffed in defeat, there was just no getting to him, "You're delusional, that's not even remotely humorous."

"Sure it was," he snickered, "just like it's _so_ worth being locked in an asylum if it means having you all to myself … alone … in a padded room … I don't mine playing the patient if it means you're my nurse."

Raven arched a brow and flashed the point of one of her fangs, "You're a masochist."

"If that's what you're into, bring on the whips and chains."

"Do you ever take anything seriously?"

"Of course I do," for a moment he looked dead serious, but that glint in his eyes gave him away, "I got some hand-cuffs in my closet, wanna test'em out?"

She gave up.

There was no use talking sense into him he was just about as stubborn as she was, and if that wasn't the case he was smart enough to twist everything she said into a joke for his enjoyment. She slid from his cage and circled around the tree, glad that they were on the opposite side not facing the house otherwise Jinx would have saw the whole thing. With a heavy sigh she smoothed back her hair and felt X following after, his suit and his shirt hanging off one arm while he displayed a grin on his face.

It made her scowl, "Stop smiling, it's not funny."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not, pervert."

"Yes, it is, and I'm not a pervert, who wouldn't enjoy a feisty do-gooder hand-cuffed to the bed in nothing but her underwear, a sexy scowl on her face, cursing me black and blue, threatening me with bodily harm … it's something to mull over."

Raven snorted and rolled her eyes for the second time in a row, then shot him a side-ways glare, "And who says the _'do-gooder'_ is the one cuffed to the bed? What if it's the other way around? I'm sure the _bad-boy_ wouldn't enjoy being tied down much, especially if he's behind bars."

"Ooo, then lock me up and throw away the key Officer Raven, because I've been a very, _very_ bad-boy."

Raven yanked the door open and scoffed, "I'm sure you have."

"Spank me," He laughed, she growled her face turning red not believing how their argument had turned into a topic full of sexual innuendos, hell not even that! They weren't hiding the fact that the topic was raunchy, but instead of her feeling awkward and embarrassed, it felt like a casual joke. What did that say about her, she wondered.

Just as they entered the Villa, Hedrick stepped up to them and handed X the phone, "Master Jaxon on the line."

Raven remembered that name, "Jaxon … isn't it Diamond?"

X, though still in light-spirit snorted, "Nah, Jaxon is Felix's true name, I'm a Diamond and Tru is a Sol." He took a hold of the phone, "What is it now?"

"_Giovanni's death has just been announced as an undisclosed accident."_

"Okay … and? Am I really supposed to care now that I know that bastard had something to do with Tru's kidnapping?"

"_No, but now the Fashion Show at the Sandcastle tonight, the one Theo's going to has become a huge dedication to him."_

"Still not seeing why I should care."

"_Raven … or Rae Roth's name is on the roster for who's to model at his show, and in about a few minutes you'll be swamped with calls from all agents requesting that she be at the show in memory of Giovanni Doucette."_

"Doesn't mean she should accept."

"_It would be a good idea to, now that his death is announced and turned into such a big thing, it would be impossible – even career suicide – for Melanie or Tranika to pull out of the walk tonight. Think of it this way little brother, if she goes she can be in direct contact with Ethan Norton and plenty of other high Immortals and Mortals alike that might know something about Lucifer, Jacquie or Tru."_

"…" X glanced down at Raven from the corner of his eye, the phone still at his ear, he tilted his head and his eyes said it all to her, it also didn't hurt that her sensitive hearing picked up the entire conversation. Though she didn't have any intention of walking that catwalk she nodded in acceptance, and X arched a brow, asking if she was sure and she nodded again. He shrugged, "Alright … sounds like a plan …"

"_Good, see you there."_

The call ended, X hung up and glared at the phone when it started to ring, he tossed it back to Hedrick, "Don't answer any calls."

Hedrick sneered, "Yes, sir."

X looked up when Bastian's tall figure appeared at the top of the stairs, his yellow eyes wide and glowing bright in amusement as he leaned on the rail a smile on his face with his chin propped on his fist. He tilted his head and asked in mock curiosity, "Does this mean Rae-Rae gets to hit it big? I think you could _totally _work the runway girlfriend."

He snapped his finger and snaked his head, X narrowed his eyes and glared at the feminine gesture, Raven too glared at it, but more suspiciously, she's heard that tone somewhere before, "… Tommy Morgan …?"

X was lost, "Huh? Who?"

Bastian silently chanted a few choice words and before their eyes he transformed into the fun-loving, energetic, peppy-preppy, and sassy Tommy Morgan, the hairstylist and make-up artist to the stars. With his frosted tips, his funky-hip frameless pink tinted sunglasses, tight button up carnation pink top and sexy white tight pants complete with traditional black and white Converse sneakers. He winked at the shocked duo, now joined with Malchior and Jinx who were curious about all the commotion.

Jinx's mouth hit the floor, "What. The. Fuck. Tommy?"

Raven snarled, "You were tailing me all along!"

'_Tommy'_ shrugged, "What can I say Rae-Rae, the DA has been monitoring the demonic community for some time. We especially been watching _you_ closely, Diamond, with the sudden disappearances of very valuable, priceless, and deadly artifacts that you categorize as mere trinkets and jewelry. We decided to put a stop to it, I'm sure the sudden decline and refusal of clients within the last three months came as suspicious had it not?"

X furrowed his brows, a few choice words at the tip of his tongue about ready to lash out, Raven was faster, "But you were investigating me?!"

"Not entirely Scathe, I just found it interesting the Titans decided to play ball, I was just intrigued to find that you'd be the one to lead the case."

Jinx shook her head, "Okay, that's just too weird … but, does this mean Tommy Morgan is your day job?"

"No, Tommy is real, in fact he's Hedrick's nephew, am I right Ian?"

Hedrick sighed dryly, "Unfortunately so."

X shook his head, "Hold the phone, so _you_ were in on this whole thing old-man?"

Hedrick managed to smirk sneakily, "Shockingly, I was."

Bastian snickered, "I've told you Diamond, we've been monitoring you very closely."

"And my brother, you didn't think he needed some spying on to?" X sneered.

"Oh, trust, we have men on him as well …"

Malchior yawned in boredom, "Hmm … as fascinating as this new little twist is, what's the plan for tonight? Sounds like we'll be going to some big gathering."

Jinx scoffed, "Not just any gathering, this is Fashion Week in the West and the Sandcastle is the final stop to showcase Giovanni's latest and greatest, it's already a big annual event, but with Giovanni's death it'll sure to be turned into the ultimate blow-out. Everyone who's anyone will be there, all the biggest names in the Fashion Industry, and every model walking the catwalk will be shot straight into the big time. No, correction, this _is _the big-times if Rae lands this gig."

X snickered, "It's a deal for Rae Roth …right Princess?"

Raven scowled, baring her fangs she growled, "The things I do for humanity."

--

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, and I don't think I even own the title if ya know what I mean, but I own every one else**

**A/N: The title of the song is guilty for the development of this chapter ... damn song, it's an oldie-but-a-goodie to me and I couldn't get it out of my head!But damn do I feel so sorry for not updating fast enough, I wanted to send this chapter in earlier, but I'm swamped with projects at school and one of them was assigned by a teacher that can't teach worth … blah, I won't say it, he's a cool guy, just can't teach so it's like I have to teach myself the whole subject, or otherwise wing it and hope I get a passing grade, heh. **

**ANYWAY, just leave your comments and feedback, and I'll be updating as fast as I can, so long as I can get away with it.**

**L8er daez, luv yaz )**


	19. Don't Think

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Don't Think**

Rae sneered and ran her fingers through her silky locks; her dark indigo eyes scanned the racks of clothes she'd be choked in sooner or later. In the back of her mind she made a note to remember that Theo, Tiffany, and Felix would be here soon enough giving them at least a total of seven people on the look out for Inferno and the girls. Malchior was acting as James's – and Rae's – bodyguard, so he was stationed outside the dressing-room to monitor the rest of the hotel. Bastian – guess – was stationed within the dressing-room as her make-up and hair stylist.

As for X, aka James Jax, well, he was right beside her and looking as delicious as ever in a dark red button up shirt on the inside of a black dress-jacket and matching slacks. He smoothed his unkempt hair back and sighed heavily as he leaned on the dresser and watched as Tommy Morgan went to go and make sure Rae's clothing were set up. Rae gritted her teeth and hazard a question, "Tell me why, again did we come here early?"

James looked down at her and his bored expression turned into a smirk, "Because you had to practice your walk and Tommy had to assure his spot as a stylist … you're actually lucky there was an chair open."

_Yeah, mirror thirteen, _Raven thought dryly as she sucked in a deep breath and tried to relax, "Not surprised … the acting coordinator of this event is a good friend of Tommy's."

"Ah …" James stepped up real close to her, the proximity unnerved her and out of reflex she stepped back, but fell into the chair. She just about nearly jerked herself back up, but James trapped her in the seat, he leaned down and held the arms of the chair his face inches from hers as he snickered, "Don't I feel so lucky to have a bunch of immortals watching my back."

Rae gritted her teeth her eyes darting back and forth, uncomfortable with the fact he was hovering over her in public, "James, if this affair leaks we're both in trouble."

"So we _are _having an affair, and here I thought we were just having fun."

And then … a whisper, _"Raven."_

Rae blinked, and barely felt it when James planted a light kiss on her lips, she pulled away and her eyes darted from side to side, _I heard it … I heard …_ she felt James place a hand on the side of her face to gain her attention. She looked up into his amber eyes that stared at her in amusement, "Seriously, no one here's going to leak anything … not if they want to keep their jobs."

"…" that wasn't her worry anymore; she sighed heavily and removed his hand from her face as she stood up from her chair. She was getting antsy, and she was sure she heard something, glancing in Tommy's direction the bubbly stylist was giggling at something the coordinator was saying. His warm eyes looked in her direction and tilted his head in question, she blinked then looked away and stiffed as James's arms wrapped around her waist, he pulled her in close and whispered in her ear.

"Something's got you spooked, what is it?"

"It's nothing." She answered quickly, too quickly to satisfy James, but for the sake of keeping character he didn't push it as Tommy came sauntering in their direction.

Tommy smirked as James slowly let Rae go to lean back on the dresser again in boredom, "Now, now kiddies, lets not get a head of ourselves, save it for the suite, kay?"

Rae sneered at the joke and tried to shake off the chills that raced up and down her spine as she convinced herself that she heard nothing, and it was all in her imagination. Or it could be Malchior just messing around with her head. Knowing him, he'd scare the pants off of her just for shits-n-giggles. Malchior did have his moments, but if Raven were being completely honest with herself, she'd also know Malchior wouldn't be as irresponsible as Red X and jeopardize the mission just because he felt like it.

Rae inwardly shook her head and with a happenstance glance off to the side, she froze dead in place when through all the moving bodies she saw him. Standing at the entrance trying to convince security that he was allowed in the back with a pass the guard considered to be a fake … but somehow, he got in.

She stood up straight and smiled, James and Tommy followed her line of sight; James's eyes narrowed trying to spot what could possibly make her smile, "What is it?"

Rae didn't say anything, she simply walked by James her eyes locked on the sapphire hues that found her with equal ease and a smooth warm smile crept up on his lips. That was all it took for Rae to burst into a run, she maneuvered through the crowd and almost literally jumped into his open arms, "Richard!"

Richard lifted her up and spun her around then dropped her back down, and held her in his embrace, "Damn sis you look good! How've ya been? I've heard a lot about you, didn't think you'd become a celebrity over night."

Rae shrugged, "It's a long and crazy story Richard, but what are you doing here? This is authorized personal only."

He nervously chuckled and stepped away from her as he cutely rubbed the back of his head, "Heh, well it's weird, I got this knock on my door and there she was, that publicist with the pink hair, she gave me this pass –" he lifted up the plastic backstage-pass, "– and said to be down here before sunset, so … here I am."

"Wow, that's so nice of her," Rae sneered, "How do you thank a person who practically has everything already?"

"I know right," Richard chuckled again, but cleared his throat and started to look around, his sapphire eyes looked sweet enough with good intentions, but a closer look will reveal the hidden agenda as his blue eyes found its target. James Jax, the golden-eyed superstar that stared at them with an odd sort of wariness that turned into a halfassed attempt at his trademark smirk.

He nodded in greeting and returning the gesture, Richard looked down at his sister. James, though the smirk was there his tone was cold, and suspicious, "Hey Tommy?"

Tommy, now chatting it up with the nearby hairdresser paused and looked his way, "Hmm, yeah babe?"

"Is that Rae's real brother?"

Tommy looked beyond James to Rae and Richard and a slow smirk formed on his lips, he leaned on the back of the chair and giggled, "Well, mm, yes, actually he is."

James shot him a dirty look, "You messin' with me?"

"Sort of."

"Then gimme a straight answer, is he or isn't he?"

Tommy knew exactly what James wanted to know, and that was what Titan was acting as Rae's brother, and if Tommy wasn't careful James would pick up on any clue in his tone and within his words to figure it out. However, James may be slick, Tommy had years of experience with stealth and circumspection, he shrugged and waved his comb around as if to emphasize a point, "He is … she'd go to hell and back for him."

James stared at him a moment, the gears in his head turned, the hamster-wheel worked over time as it tried to decipher Tommy's riddle, but no luck. What Tommy had said, basically described Rae's personality, she can be a bit fanatical when it came to the safety of innocent lives and close friends/family. She'd go to great extremes to save anyone … dieing for a cause seemed to be something she'd do without hesitation.

"_Oh my little-bird,"_ Raven blinked as Malchior entered her head, but never flinched as he lead her 'brother' to her chair.

"_What is it?"_

Tommy smirked, but the twinkle in his eye told her he was over hearing the telepathic connection, she allowed it as he smiled, and walked around the chair to greet Richard, "Hey there big-brother! Haven't seen you since Rae-Rae's début! How've ya been?"

"_I picked up a scent trail, it's fresh, Tru and Jacquie are nearby, I'd say they're in the building … what do you want to do?"_

Rae shook her head and plopped down on the chair her violet eyes drifted to James, and sensed his uneasiness around Richard and so he should be. Any wrong move and he'd get Robin on his tail, and Raven knew that once Robin caught the scent it would be hard to shake him off. _Speaking of scents …_ she thought and kept a stoic face when James's eyes shifted to her and he arched a brow in discreet question before looking away.

"_Make note of it, do not make a move, and do not inform James, Felix, Tiffany or Theo. Bastian, you know what to do."_

Tommy giggled as Richard blinked, then narrowed his eyes and tilted his head trying to remember, "Uh … the stylist … right … um … Tim – Thomas – uh …"

Tommy pressed a hand to his heart, "Ah! I'm hurt baby, how can you not remember your dear old friend Tommy Morgan that helped your sister get to where she is today!"

_Beep!_

_Beep!_

_Beep!_

Tommy's cell phone went off, "Oh! Whoops gotta take this sugar, Rae-Rae, let's get to work!"

Tommy answered the call with a bluetooth that he clipped to his ear, with a pick and a comb in his hand he went to work with Rae's hair, "Hello! Tommy here, oh hey girl it's been a while wasup? Uh-huh … uh-huh … oh you little whore, details, details!"

With that, Tommy's presence was completely forgotten.

Richard stuffed his hands in his pockets and stood beside his sister, watching her through the mirror while James leaned on the dresser maintaining that bored expression, Richard arched a brow and scanned him from head to toe, "You're … James, right? The guy my sister's staying with?"

James smirked and nodded, "I wouldn't exactly say staying with, more like rooming together for the summer."

"Uh-huh …" Richard looked down at his sister, "… and you're fine with that?"

Rae shrugged, "He hasn't done anything to warrant an arrest."

Behind Richard's head James grinned devilishly an all-knowing look flashed across his golden eyes and Rae reframed from rolling her eyes, grimacing as Tommy pulled on her scalp while teasing her hair. Richard looked at James, and James's grin dropped to a harmless – but sneaky – smirk and he winked, "Come on Richy, do I look like a guy that'll take advantage of a girl?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

Rae hid a laughing fit with a cough, James jolted his head back expressing shock and amusement, "Oh, funny-guy got jokes."

Richard shrugged dryly, "I call it as I see it."

"Should I be offended? That sounded like a direct attack to my integrity."

"No, I just don't like having my sister away for so long without calling me," he narrowed his eyes on Rae, she shrugged innocently and ducked her head down to examine her nails, they were just so fascinating. Richard shook his head, "She's the only family I got, and we've never been separated since our parents' death."

_Oh, you are good, _James reframed from snickering, and shrugged, "Well, I don't mean to impose, but I'm pretty sure your girl can handle life on her own, right Rae?"

Rae sighed heavily in response as Tommy tilted her head forward and down, still chatting on the phone. Richard sympathetically smiled when she looked up at him with a hard glare. James rolled his eyes and glanced down at his Rolex watch to check the time and frowned, "Hey, Richard, I think it's time for us to go, they're about to start."

Richard's brow shot up again in question, "Already?"

"Yep, and since you're the brother of the star of tonight's show, you'll be stuck in the VIP section with me … sucks don't it?" James chuckled, Richard laughed with him, but offhandedly just to be polite as he looked down at his sister and hazard a question.

"You going to be alright?"

She nodded quickly just to get him out of the room, "I'll be fine Richard … I'll make it up as I go along."

Richard smirked and shook his head, then left her with a pat on her shoulder, James followed suit, but made sure Richard wasn't looking he reached down and pecked her on her cheek. She gasped in honest shock and nearly ripped herself away from Tommy's curling iron just to glare at him, but he had a hand on her cheek, keeping her face in place as he whispered into her ear, "Good luck."

Rae blinked rapidly, and James with a whisper of a breeze slinked away after Richard, they both got to the door, but as soon as James asked the director where their places were, Theo came rushing through the door, she bumped into Richard clumsily, "Oh! Oh my god! I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"

Richard waved his hand dismissively, "It's nothing, I'm alright."

"Oh, okay, sorry," she apologized again then looked up and found James staring at her quizzically, only because as he glanced at his watch again to verify the time, he realized she was late.

"What's the matter? The time run away from you, Thee?"

Theo frowned and reached out to grab a hold of his wrist, she dragged him away from Richard to a corner and whispered urgently, "Felix knows where the girls are."

James froze, "What …"

"We came in the back way and he said he could smell their scent all over the place –"

"We'll that's good, we gotta go tell Rae –!" James turned to rush back to Rae, but Theo's grip on his wrist stopped him.

"No! Wait, listen, as soon as Felix went to follow the scent Malchior stopped him."

"… Huh?"

"It's true, Felix tried to tell him the scent was there, but Malchior wouldn't listen, he kept telling us to go to the show and that the scent was a fake."

"… And … Felix thinks differently …?"

Theo nodded, a worried look on her face as her jade-green eyes darted to Rae and Tommy, she chewed on her lip and pulled James closer to her to whisper even lower, "James … I don't know what's going on, but I'm worried about you."

"Me? Tru and Jacquie are the ones in trouble, what the hell you worried about me for?"

"Think about it … Rae's a … a … well, _you know_, and once the girls are in safe custody, where does that leave you _or _Felix? Both of you aren't exactly honest-Joes, what's to stop her from killing two birds with one stone?"

A chill snaked up and down James's spine as Theo's words started to make sense, suddenly he could feel Richard's eyes on the back of his skull staring him down, analyzing him. James couldn't help to wonder how peculiar the timing was that a second Titan should be on the set. His golden eyes narrowed and gritted his teeth, "Where's Felix and Tiff right now?"

"Well, Felix is looking for a way around Malchior and Tiffany's mingling with the crowd finding out whatever she can about _you-know-who … _What do you want to do?"

"…"

Richard was getting impatient, sighing in boredom and smoothing back his hair while grinding his teeth. He moved out of the way when a few backstage workers rolled in a wrack of clothes that were probably worth more than his life. God have mercy on the poor bastard that ripped, stained, or dropped one article of said clothing to the ground. Richard watched it go and once it passed James stood before him with a sly smirk, "Ready for the show?"

Richard blinked as James put a hand on his shoulder and lead him out of the tented lobby to a cobbled stone path that winded and curved and split somewhere along the middle, but ended at the sandy shores of Hotel Beach. There, a stage stood at the bottom for the models to pose, cross paths and walk back up the runway. It made Richard tilted his head and look around, "Hey … if this show is going to be here at this hotel … where's the catwalk?"

"You're walking on it."

James chuckled and with his thumb jerked it back, Richard looked over his shoulder, back down the way they had come and nearly tripped on himself when he saw the set up. There was a giant picture of Giovanni towering 20ft and could be seen from the shore, bouquets of flowers piled high on either side of the entrance/exit. Now that he thought of it, the paper-lanterns dangling over head in crisscross patterns leading all the way down to the stage made sense. That, as well as all the torches lining the path, the show would go well into the night and it began at sunset.

Richard gawked, "Wow … this is a helluva long walk."

"Yep … and to think your sister with no modeling experience whatsoever is going to be strutting down one of the most anticipated walks of this century. Her fame is going to go through the roof if she does this the right way."

Richard scoffed and muttered, "Didn't know there was a wrong way to walk."

James chuckled again, "I know, it's supposed to be simple …" he shrugged, "… guess not."

There was a deeper meaning to that that Richard caught on to … but it made him wonder why a star of James's caliber would think something like that. Don't get him wrong, Richard doesn't believe in all celebrities being shallow-minded show-ponies – unlike his 'sister' – it's just, the way James said it. As if he were talking from experience, made him wonder, Richard sighed, "So … where _are _we going to be watching this whole thing?"

"Front and center."

--

The maid walked in with their dinner … but it was not just any maid as Tru and Jacquie have come to realize.

She was a vampire the same as all the other service-people that walked in and out of their hotel suite within the Sandcastle, cleaning their room or bringing up room-serves. She smiled at the girls who were both sitting on the couch curled close to one another, both watching the woman silently, suspiciously, and cautiously. The woman placed their silver trays on the table, their drinks as well and pleasantly she asked, "Is there anything else you girls would like?"

"…"

"…"

"… Okay then, have a good night," she sounded sincere enough, but neither Tru nor Jacquie were taking the chance. They watched the woman roll the cart out and just as the door clicked closed – with an automatic deadbolt locking-mechanism – they were caged. Even if they wanted to send a message through the balcony, there was no way; Tru could sense the magical shield put in place to hinder them from stepping out, all the windows were the same. The only way in or out was through the front dual doors.

Tru gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes; she glared at the door for a few seconds while Jacquie pushed off the couch and slowly walked up to silver trays of food. It was sirloin steaks with baked-potatoes and steamed vegetables; she licked her lips and debated if whether or not it was poisoned, she glanced back at Tru for her opinion but nearly screamed when she saw Tru wasn't on the couch. Her eyes darted back and forth within the living room, and sighed in relief when she found her near the doors.

Jacquie frowned, "Tru … what are you doing?"

Tru, from her pocket pulled out a screwdriver and seriously she replied, "I'm getting us out of here."

Jacquie's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in shock, "Wha … buh … how'd you get the screw-driver!"

"When the mechanic came in to check the heater in the room …" Tru carefully dragged a chair to the door, she positioned it on the right wall and gestured for Jacquie to help her take down the mirror. Jacquie, hesitant and still confused followed her lead and helped. Not sure what else to do she put the mirror down and saw what Tru was looking for.

The security pad that controlled the locked doors, Jacquie chewed on her lower lip nervously, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Sure … this system is decades old, and if my guess is right hasn't been updated for a while."

"But … what if … you know, there's some kind of firewall … or, um, there's some kind of – what is it – um … encryption that reroutes your tampering and informs the security downstairs of a break in or whatever …"

Tru paused, and slowly turned to stare down at Jacquie in astonishment, "… You came up with that all on your own?"

Jacquie shrugged, "I watch spy movies too."

"Well spy-movies and real-life are two totally different things, so shut-up and let me work."

"But what if someone shows up!"

"No one is going to show up."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because the guard that usually watches our room is screwing around with that maid, he does it every time she comes to our room; he waits for her at the elevator, then walks her to the elevator that's about a hundred feet from our door. It's gonna take him about a minute to get back to his post, if I do this right a minute will be more than enough for us so we can ditch into the stairway and to the roof and take the elevator down. We'll keep alternating elevators every time they stop, so, shush."

Jacquie jolted her head back and sneered, "When did you figure all this out?"

"The night we arrived at the Sandcastle … Felix and Ryan use to stay here on business and just in case anything went wrong we already knew the exact layout of the entire building, and how to bypass the security … so I know what I'm doing, all you have to do is trust me."

Jacquie scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Your family isn't exactly full of trustworthy people."

Tru sneered, "Neither is yours."

Stalemate, Jacquie pouted and sighed heavily, but otherwise let Tru do her thing. Tru unscrewed the silver panel, but before she pulled it out she held the screwdriver in her teeth and reached back into her pocket to grab a set of pliers. Jacquie blinked, then narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "You ever consider your brothers are a bad influence on you? I never even saw you pull those things from the mechanic's bag … and he was a vampire!"

"Daks 'ekush hoo were wakin' im erwris wih hore kosness …"

"… Huh?"

Tru ignored her a moment as she carefully took off the panel about an inch from the wall, then reached her hand with the pliers up to the top right hand corner and snipped the red-wire that'll surely trigger a tampering-warning. Afterwards, she yanked the panel off and handed it to Jacquie and repeated her statement, "That's because you were making him nervous with your closeness … he looked like a vamp addicted to drug-blood in need of a fix."

Jacquie frowned, "How do you know what a doped up vamp looks like?"

Tru sighed heavily as she alternated between the pliers and the screwdriver manually trying to unlock the doors by cutting off the power to the automatic locking-sequence. She shrugged, "I've been kidnapped by a few and locked with some long enough to know how they move, look, and smell … weird, I know, but there's not much else to do when being held hostage. Got it! Now let's get out of here!"

_Thonk!_

The doors unlocked.

Twirling the pliers in her fingers Tru stuffed it in her pocket, jumped off the chair, and grabbed Jacquie's wrist. She yanked her to the door and turned the handle and without any hesitation darted out into the hall. Jacquie, running on autopilot with her heart racing, and face turning pale, could not at all believe they were actually free. Her feet and body moved with Tru as she was dragged down the hall towards the stairwell. With a jerk Tru shoved the door open and nearly went tumbling down the steep stairs, but Jacquie pulled her back on her feet.

Tru gasped, her cinnamon eyes widened in shock when she saw two vampire guards headed up. So she shoved Jacquie back into the hall, Jacquie scoffed, "Ah … wha – wasn't it your plan to go up?"

"Change of plans …" Tru's eyes darted back and forth, up and down the hall and from the corner of her eye she caught their new escape route. A human maid cleaning one of the suites, she smirked a smirk that would have done her brothers proud, her grip on Jacquie's hand tightened and she pulled her towards the maid, "… we're skipping right on down to plan C."

"Plan C? What was plan B?!"

"No idea, but plan C _always _works._" _With that said, Tru peaked into the room to be sure the maid wasn't around, and grabbed two cans the air-freshener she tossed one to Jacquie.

Jacquie gave it a look of scrutiny, "What are we gonna do? Freshen'em up to death?"

"In a way, just spray it all over yourself so they won't catch our scent."

"But won't they know we're out of the room already?"

"Spray it, don't say it." Tru growled, Jacquie's questions working on her last nerve, she closed her eyes and held her breath then sprayed the air-freshener all over her body. Jacquie sighed, and mimicked the motion, Tru turned her around so she got her back and vise versa until they smelled of cheap perfume that grandmothers' would wear. Tru tossed her fresheners back on the cart then shoved Jacquie into the bottom of the cart, she grabbed her can and she raced back to the stairwell and cracked open the door.

Jacquie peaked from behind the dirty towels to see what Tru was doing and tilted her head as the girl jammed the can between the door and the thrush-hold so the spray was held down. She then raced back to the cart and jumped in with Jacquie, Jacquie coughed a bit the freshener bothering her throat she croaked a question, "Why'd you do that?"

"Chemicals are too strong for sensitive noses, they'll be holding their breaths while –" she shut up when she heard the maid humming and returning to her cart.

Tru held Jacquie down as the hold woman merrily shut and locked the door putting her materials back in their place; she suddenly seized humming and spoke out loud to herself, "What on … what are you doing there?"

She shuffled over to the can jammed at the door and gasped when she heard two gentlemen hacking violently, "Oh! Goodness, are you alright?"

"What did you do? Pour the whole damn bottle on the carpet lady? Shit I'm suffocating here!"

"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't –"

"Shut it and go! God, I'm getting a fuckin' headache!"

The old woman, intimidated by their feral glares and almost inhuman vibes, rushed back to her cart and hurried down the hall towards her next room around the bend, there she paused at the room and huffed, "Twenty years of service for this hotel and still no reward … oh goodness Grace, what are you to do with yourself …"

She sighed tiredly and hummed softly as she walked around the cart to reach under the towels for her weapon of choice against dust-bunnies. Tru and Jacquie rolled out from the other side and took off in a sprint down the hall towards the elevators. They went from zero to haul-ass in a flat milla-second. Tru slammed herself into the elevator panel and started to rapidly press the down button, begging the building to hurry up feeling her escape so close she could practically taste it.

Jacquie bounced on the balls of her feet, and kept glancing back, as if the vampires had already discovered their disappearance. She whimpered, "Tru …!"

_TING!_

Like magic the doors opened Tru and Jacquie's face brightened, _"Yes!"_

Squeezing in with two businessmen (one of them with a cell-phone glued to his ear) and one supermodel too busy prettying herself up for the public eye. When Jacquie bumped into her she squealed, "Excuse me little girl! These are seven hundred dollar Jimmy Choos, you scuff them I'll personally see to it that your mommy and daddy pay for it through the nose, you got that brat."

Jacquie sneered and scowled condescendingly at her shoes, "Seven hundred dollars? They look more like cheap knock-offs to me. Trust me, my sister, Tiffany Amelia Dodger-Jaxon can pay whatever price you name and _still _have some left over to buy out whatever agency threw you up and destroy your entire career just for the inconvenience. So go a head and try me."

The red-head's mouth dropped as if she couldn't believe a child was back-sassing her. Tru, secretly cheered Jacquie on, but her smile dropped as the elevator dinged open; she leapt up and snatched the man's cell-phone, "Sorry! Emergency, my brother will pay you back."

"Hey!"

"Come on," she grabbed Jacquie and darted off into the newest hallway, observing how crowded this one was compared to the hall they were caged in. She quickly dialed up her brother's number, but gasped when Jacquie jerked her back and the cell phone was dropped in the middle of the hall, "Wah! Lyn!"

Jacquie ducked into a random room, luck on their side because it wasn't locked, they jumped in and she slammed it shut, her heart pounding. Tru scowled, "What the hell's your problem!"

"That one man … you know … the … um … what did you call him when he told us our reason for being held up …"

Tru racked her brains, then frowned, "Inferno?"

"Yeah … he was walking across the hall …"

_What's he doing on the fourth floor …_ Tru thought in a slight panic, they were just so close to getting out, to being free … it couldn't end like this, not like this they were too close and the cell phone was in the middle of the hall! _Damn it! _She scanned the room and saw the telephone that could connect her to the front desk, but she couldn't use it, the front desk was working for Inferno. Then, the glass of the sliding doors caught her attention, there were spotlights waving back and forth in the air and loud music pumping through the soundproof glass.

Tru tilted her head in curiosity, she glanced at Jacquie and that same look crossed her blue eyes. Wordlessly they went to the glass, slid it open and hung over the balcony; they looked down and blinked when they saw four models at a time walk along the cobbled-stoned path. Two of them going, and two of them coming, Jacquie arched a brow, "Well, that explains why the hotel is packed."

Tru winced, a hand went up to caress the side of her head, _Ah … what the …!_

Blackout …

Splash of blood …

A bargain …

Fear …

She couldn't – no – _wouldn't _let it happen…

_Let what happen? _

"Hey, Tru," gasping, Tru snapped out of her daze. The sharp pulsing pain in the back of her head subsiding, and her blurry vision returning to normal, Jacquie tilted her head and asked aloud, "You think … you don't think Theo or Rae could be here … do you?"

Tru looked down at the catwalk, "If they are here, that means my brothers could be here as well."

"And that they are …" Tru and Jacquie stiffened, their breaths caught in their throats, their skin going completely stark-white when a hand – a _clawed_ hand – clutched at their shoulders. Bringing them closer to the warm body from which the voice belonged to. There was a sinister chuckle as he mocked them with the knowledge they didn't know … but regretted not knowing before they broke out, "… but the real question is, how are they going to get to you, when you're not where you're supposed to be … hmm?"

Jacquie chilled, "Inferno …"

He snickered and whispered in Jacquie's hear making her cringe and shed a single tear in fear that which he licked right off her face, "Guess again, pet."

Tru gulped, she thought it was a lie, she thought Melanie and Tranika were just trying to scare her and Jacquie, apparently she thought wrong, _"Lucifer."_

"_By George she's got it …"_

--

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, but I own every one else … yeah … DC owns the Titans … **

**A/N: Yah!! Chapter 19, damn this was a long one and a hard one to write, well, I'm sorry for the grammatical errors, and the long wait but trust my friends the next chapter will be up soon, I hope … my graduation is just a few weeks away so we'll see how this goes. Review and I'll get back to you with another chappie soon enough, luv yaz!**

**L8er daez!**


	20. Double Time

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Double Time**

"Ack! Tommy, it's tight enough, I can't breathe in this thing," Rae growled and gasped when Tommy tightened the last string of the golden corset gown. She held a hand to her stomach and continued to gasp for air that fled her lungs as Tommy tied her off and patted her shoulder.

"Okay, this is your third round babe; you're doing great just two more to go then the finale."

Rae scowled as she wobbled in her heels still holding her stomach struggling to breathe properly, "That's if I don't faint first."

"Aaaand go!" Tommy pushed her forward out of the dressing-room, Rae stumbled at first, but once she stepped out with her partnered model she was fine, She kept count in her head as Tommy told her and kept pace with her partner, though the cracks in the cobbled ground nearly killed her whenever her heels wedged into the ground. Hand on her hip she glided across the path and smiled as she reached the stage where her brother and James stood clapping and cheering with many other onlookers.

Rae flashed her dress and just as she crossed with her partner to march down the opposite path she spun around elegantly, the long skirt of her gown flared and wrapped around her finger as she strutted away from the stage with a hand on her hip. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and made her exit. Richard couldn't help to shake his head, "It's crazy how she can do this in front of all these people."

James laughed and leaned closer to Richard so he could be heard over the loud music, "I'm amazed she can do it at all, you've got one helluva talented sister there kid."

Richard shot him a sharp look, but James didn't see it, he was be-bopping to the music and sipping on some colored drink in his hand, his golden eyes shifted to the side and just as fast as he saw her, he had her in his hand. She gasped and her blue eyes widened ever so slightly before she expressed annoyance and scowled at him, James smirked and winked, "Hey Tiff, where's Felix?"

Tiffany blinked slowly, then tilted her head and shrugged nonchalantly as she jerked her arm from his grasp, "He's around, why?"

"I forgot his number, think you can call him and tell him Darren is the wrong agent coordinating the entertainment? Thanks."

Without argument she huffed and pulled out her cell phone, then disappeared into the crowd. Richard watched her go suspiciously, then asked, "Who's she?"

James shrugged, "My sister-in-law," then he put a finger to his lips and grinned sneakily, "but that's our little secret kay? I'm not supposed to have family."

"… Whatever," Richard frowned and glanced back up at the stage, but made sure to keep note of the new piece of information.

Meanwhile, Tiffany maneuvered through the crowd and held a finger to an ear while she pressed her cell-phone to her other, "Did you get that Felix?"

Felix, in the lobby, one leg crossed over the other leaned on the wall, newspaper in hand with his cell-phone to his ear, his green eyes cruel and cold, narrowed as he shifted it to the corner where Malchior stood. The dragon, looking spiffy in a black-suit, and neatly gelled hair kept his attention on Felix, despite looking placid yet somewhat bored and aloof. Felix grinned, "Hmph, well you can tell my dear-brother to deal with it, take care love, see you in a moment."

With that he snapped his cell-phone off and slipped it in his pocket, he then folded the newspaper and tossed it on a nearby table as he pushed off the wall and walked towards the elevators. In a matter of seconds Malchior was standing in his way dusting off imaginary lint from his jacket. He looked up and flashed his fangs in a lazy grin, "Going somewhere, Jaxon?"

Felix straightened up and smoothed back his hair, "Just to see a friend, apparently my brother is complaining about the show."

Malchior chuckled and slowly shook his head, "Now, now Felix … we both know _'Darren'_ isn't real … so let's spare us both the trouble and fess up, what's the code?"

"Was that a request? Or a demand?" Felix scowled and defiantly planted his feet to the ground, he wasn't going anywhere.

Malchior saw it and straightened out his jacket, his false brown eyes bleeding precious rubies, the grin on his lips darkened considerably as he slowly tilted his head to the side, "Felix … how do you know, truthfully, how do you know the girls are here?"

"Because for some ungodly reason you are being very adamant about keeping me from checking for myself."

"You don't have to check if I'm the one that confirms it."

"Well I'm sorry, but the word of a dragon isn't good enough for me."

"Deal with it."

"No."

Malchior sighed heavily, "You're being childish Jaxon."

"Maybe … but this is my sister's life on the line and you people just can't seem to get that."

"We get it, but we can't do our job if you or your brother keep geting in the way."

Felix sneered, "Move Malchior, I'm getting through whether you like it or not."

The dragon snickered, "I never said you couldn't try."

"…"

"…"

They squared off for a moment, then Felix darted to the left, Malchior jumped for him, but he kicked off the wall and kicked Malchior down in the process. He xacuted a mid-air summersault and darted for the stairwell door; he shoved through and climbed the stairs a flight at a time following his sister's scent. He thought as he frantically scrambled further up the stairwell, _Where are you Tru … _he flew up to headed straight for the sixth floor.

Malchior, on the bottom looked up and smirked, he then climbed about one flight then leapt onto the rail with one hand and pushed off. He sailed up and the moment he touched the sixth flight, he grabbed the rail and swung himself around. His heel connected with Felix's chest and the nephilim flew back down and impact the wall hard enough to create a small crater that in turn made a crack all the way up to the ceiling. Malchior dropped down on the stairs and again dusted off the plaster from his jacket, if his eyes had watched close enough, he'd have noticed when he had kicked Felix something shiny and tiny flew out of his hand and dropped down the stairwell.

It clipped the railing of the fifth-floor and fell on the fourth floor.

Instead Malchior watched Felix picked himself up off the ground

His head, Malchior knew, must have been ringing because he swayed slightly on his feet, Malchior frowned, "I'm keeping you from making a big mistake, all we know is Inferno is here, but we can't confirm if your sister is with him if you keep making such a fuss."

Felix held his chest, finding it hard to breath, but he's stubborn pride would not allow him to succumb, "Oh don't give me the whole safety-issue bullshit Malchior … you know she's here."

"If I knew for sure than it wouldn't make sense for me to keep you from her would it?"

"It would if it's Raven's plan to capture my brother, and send Lucifer back to hell all in one shot." Felix scoffed, and then added scornfully, "She'd be announced hero of the year!"

"You obvious don't know Raven very well; fame is the last thing on her mind."

"Doesn't seem that way from here."

Malchior snarled loud enough to echo through out the stairwell, "Enough. Get back down stairs before I drag you out of here and believe me Jaxon I won't care if you're alive, unconscious, or dead as I do so."

Felix weighed the pros and cons, his eyes were still defiant, but in defeat his shoulders sagged tiredly and he gritted his teeth like a disciplined child marched back down the stairs. Malchior made sure he walked as he followed after him, pleased that Felix was smart enough to let it go and trust them, because as far as Malchior knew the brothers had it all wrong about Raven. She had no hidden agenda concerning  
getting Tru and Jacquie back from Inferno or Lucifer.

"_Malchior!" _Malchior nearly tripped on his way down the final flight when Raven practically screamed in his head, his ears started to ring.

"_What is it? You didn't have to shout love."_

"_It's X, he's not with Richard, what's your position?"_

"_Taking care of Felix, he tried to make a break for it, what about Bastian."_

Bastian chimed into the conversation, _"He's no where within my radar … hmm … I think we've been had, Malchior. By any chance did Felix speak to anyone on the phone before he started to give you a hard time?"_

Malchior narrowed his eyes on Felix, _"Yes, I over heard Tiffany relay a message from X telling him that – and I quote – 'Darran is the wrong agent coordinating the entertainment.' Mean anything to you?"_

"_Ah … thought so … Felix used that same line when he was escaping from a hit a while ago."_

"_Well, what does it mean?"_

"_If you think about it, it's actually quite obvious, for every word within the little sentence, there is a letter emphasized and when spelled out is the message. Clever, huh, _D_arren _IS T_he w_R_ong _A_gent _C_oordinating _T_he _E_ntertain_M_ent. If my guess is correct, I think James is well on his way to finding his sister right now …"_ Bastian explained, the tone in his thoughts rather uninterested and bored.

Malchior scowled, his eyes glaring scornfully at Felixas the nephilim reached for the exit of the stairwell, at the same time he looked back and the corner of his lips turned up into a discreet smile. If Malchior didn't already know what to look for, he would have missed it. The dragon growled, he came deadly close to slamming the half-breed into the wall a second time to create another crater, but Raven's voice stopped him, _"Malchior, you heard Bastian, X is somewhere in the building, find him before the Seekers do or he's in trouble."_

"_And Felix …"_

"_He's done his part, I doubt he'll do anything else, but Bastian will be watching him."_

"_Understood."_

Felix pushed the door open and nearly jumped out of his socks when he saw Tommy Morgan standing in the middle of the hall, hands on his hips foot tapping looking like an agitated mother-hen, "Well, if I were Theo I'd be greatly disappointed that my friends weren't there to watch one of the biggest nights of my life. You are just cruel Mr. Jaxon, simply cruel."

Malchior grinned as Tommy grabbed the baffled Felix's hand and dragged him out of the stairwell and into the lobby, the dragon watched him go. Tommy looked over his shoulder and nodded the go ahead. Malchior ducked back into the stairwell and zoomed up to the fourth floor where he knew without a doubt in his mind Tru and Jacquie were being held.

True enough, he could do something; he could go in there and save them both without so much as batting an eye, with Bastian and Raven on his side who would dare go against them? No one, no one, but politics … the Seekers were like the Vampire's police force, they operate separately from the Disciplinary Agency and often times the two but-heads with each other. Only because humans were the Vampire's natural source of food and sometimes _'accidents happen'_. It was then the Seeker's job to go out and find the vampire who'd broken the law and took a human life, bring them to their clan's Grandmaster for judgment and if the crime fit the bill the accused was sent to the DA for execution.

Sounded simple enough right?

Well, sometimes it wasn't, the DA would catch a case involving a vampire and without informing the Seekers would go a head and kill the accused. Malchior going on the fourth floor to get Tru and Jacquie and being a DA would be an invasion of territory since Bastian was courteous enough to allow the Seekers to handle Inferno. X didn't know this and would probably kill the wrong vamp, thus the reason why Raven instructed the girls' location be kept from the brothers, Tiffany and Theo.

Malchior stepped into the hall, he looked relaxed and collected, but he was tense and alert. The girls were there alright, but the place was crawling with vampires. Their scent was all over the place, Malchior concentrated on staying out of their radar and focused on tracing X, he couldn't have gotten far, Malchior narrowed his eyes, _Where are you …_

The Sandcastle, as X knew by heart had two stairwells; both on opposite ends of the building, if he guessed right, his brother would be occupying the most obvious stairwell, the one nearest the lobby. It was where the mini homing device was kept, so X slipped onto the fourth floor, but not unnoticed, there were two gentlemen walking his way, their attention flicked in his direction and one of them frowned, "Hey."

X froze and slowly turned to face them with a stiff smile, "Can I help you?"

The one that called out to him narrowed his eyes, "James … Jax …"

"That's me."

The gentlemen glanced at one another skeptically, the speaker glared at James, "You're not supposed to be up here."

"Oh?" He played stupid, "Why not?"

"Because your ward is at the show is she not? Shouldn't you be monitor her?"

"Her brother's there."

"_Brother?"_ They both chimed in confusion.

James took a deep relaxing breath, "Well, yes, Rae Roth does have a brother and he's taking my place, now if you'll excuse me I have some business to attend to."

He turned to leave, but the second gentlemen spoke up still suspicious, "What kind of business."

"None of yours."

"…"

The first's frown darkened, shifting from his spot and circling James to block him off from the rest of the hall trying to direct him back into the stairwell, "I'm sorry Mr. Jax, but you're not allowed up here, this floor is occupied by a privet company, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

James blinked a dark tint flashed in his golden eyes, but he replaced it with a smirk, "Fellas, come on, I said I was up here for business, lets talk business."

"James!" James spun around and scowled when he saw Malchior headed in their direction, he turned back around and he saw the gentlemen were watching Malchior with agitated looks.

"You." One of them lifted up the corner of his lip and a peak of a fang poked out, his hand went to his hip lifting up his jacket to reveal a black handgun.

Malchior saw the warning and held up his hands to keep the peace, they were Seekers after all, but James was faster, from his pocket he pulled out four smoke bombs and dropped them. The vampires hissed when the flash of light, the sudden explosion of sound, and the smoke assaulted their senses, X shoved his way passed them and Malchior snarled, "Stupid fool!"

He dashed through the smoke and into the clearing just in time to spot X rounding the corner, Malchior went after him, _He's fast for a human I'll give'em that_, he skirted the corner and braced to catch him in one leap, but froze when the door to his left burst open and two more vampires popped out. This time, they weren't Seekers, and their sights landed on Malchior, one of them smirked, "Well, well … Inferno said we'd get the chance to meet with a Disciplinary Agent, didn't think we'd get to face one so soon."

Malchior snarled, "I do _not_ have time to deal with your kind right now."

"Oh, but we have all the time in the world." Malchior looked over his shoulder at the Seekers that were not very happy-campers, they snarled at him, but knew they had bigger fish to fry, "Get your human, the girls were moved to the fifth floor."

The rogue vampires sneered, "No one is going anywhere."

The handgun tucked into the Seekers' pants was pulled and pointed at the rogue vampires, "Move and die on the spot, go Dragon!"

Malchior maneuvered passed the vampires and took off for the second stairwell just as all hell broke loose; he cringed when he felt a bullet whiz pass his head just as he ducked into the stairs. He made sure to close the door before he literally flew up to the fifth floor, and burst through the doors; he nearly stumbled on his own two feet when he stopped dead in his tracks. Why? Because X was standing in his way, with three vampires standing in his way, one of them scowled, "Damn, they just keep coming."

Malchior sneered and narrowed his eyes on the back of X's head, "This wouldn't have happened if neither you nor your brother decided to play superhero."

X snapped, "You fuckers were the ones that kept the fact my sister was here hidden from us, what the hell were we supposed to think?"

"Nothing at all, you should have just let us handle it."

"Yeah, and it looks like you got everything under full control."

"Stop being such a smart-ass."

"No!" X spun around and pointed his finger in the dragon's face, "It's the truth, I have every goddamn right to be suspicious of you freaks that seem to know more about me than I do!"

Malchior bared his fangs, "Your life is in danger, it's our job to know everything there is to know to _do_ our job."

"Always the fuckin' job, is that the best excuse you people can come up with? Weak."

The three vampires glanced at one another in confusion, were they really having an argument right here and now?

Malchior growled, "Look, I just follow orders, I could give less of a damn if you had an accident and broke your neck down the fall of a few stairs."

"Was that a threat?"

"It sure wasn't a suggestion."

"I dare you to make a move, go a head I've been wanting to knock you senseless from the beginning anyway."

"Talk is cheap."

X gritted his teeth, and balled his hand into a fist, he cocked it back and looked like he was about to wail on the dragon, but he spun around and clocked the first vampire that came into his sights. Malchior jumped the next, grabbing a hand full of his shirt, pulling him forward and cracking his nose with a fist while X round-housed the third. In the process he flicked out one of his switchblades with the silver coating and stabbed him in the chest. The vampire's body exploded in a brilliant ray of amber and ashes, X readjusted his grip and in a matter of seconds the other two were quickly dealt with.

Malchior chuckled as X dusted off his jacket, they looked at each other, X shrugged nonchalantly, then _BAM!_ The dragon and the thief both jerked their heads to the right, down the hall where a door was slammed open and Tranika pocked her head out to see what was with all the commotion. She was beautiful with chocolate colored skin and silver-gray eyes, tall with a slim frame; she gasped, but hissed and ducked back into her room.

Without thinking X ran down the hall, Malchior followed but sensed movement in many other rooms and then the building's evacuation alarm went off in an ear-piercing shriek, it made Malchior cringe. His step faulted, as it took him a moment to readjust his senses to the loud screeching sound. Meanwhile, X made it into the suite, but just as Malchior came to the door, it slammed shut and the door across the hall was blown open, he dodged a body that was thrown from the room and tensed when the unknown assailant stepped out. They sized each other up for a second before establishing they weren't pretty much on the same side, the assailant being a Seeker, "I thought the DA gave this to the Seekers?"

Malchior took an easy breath, but didn't relax his guard, X was in the room and when he reached for the door handle to open it, he hissed in pain when the doorknob burnt his flesh. The Seeker stood by his side, "I've heard of Lucifer's return … this could be his doing."

"Wouldn't be surprised …" Malchior held his hand to his chest, why was the wound taking longer to heal than necessary, he sighed heavily, and leaned on the wall, but not for long.

More noise rattled the floor and startled the dragon to straight up and the Seeker beside him shrugged off his jacket and tossed it to the side, "Well, we were hoping to make this a smooth operation, looks like things are about to get rough."

Malchior blinked slowly, then grinned a fanged grin as he shrugged his own jacket off and undid the top two buttons of his inside shirt as well as his cuffs to give him maneuverability. He chuckled, "Right … but that's where it gets fun."

--

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, never did, but DC always had**

**A/N: Damn guys, its crunch time for me, finals and everything my graduation is on June 9 and damn it all I want it to end!! Ugh! I'm stressin' **_**OUT**_**, blah … I'm about to fall over … but fear not! I'm not through with this story just yet, and I thank you all for your support, you know I love you.**

**L8er daez**


	21. Now Showing

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Now Showing**

_SLAM!_

The moment that door locked behind him, X knew he was in deep trouble.

"Ryan!" Tru screamed when she managed to free her face from Melanie's death-like grip, her claws scratched her cheek and the smell of blood filled the room. Melanie hissed and despite the fact that she was in a high-fashion couture blood-red gown, she dipped down to Tru's level and roughly cupped her chin. Tru cringed and shuddered as her head was jerked to the side and a chill raced down her spine when Melanie licked her face. Tru tried to fight against her vice-grip, but fighting her was like fighting mechanical-pliers, good-luck-Chuck.

Melanie giggled and pressed her forehead against Tru's her eyes shifting to Ryan's look of utter disgust and hate, she snickered, "So innocent and sweet … the harder her heart pumps the fresher the wine, did you know that, _James?"_

"Behave yourself Melanie," Ethan Norton, social-elite, handsome with a dangerous edge and not the bad-boy danger. No, the kind of dangerous that if anyone were to step a single toe out of line within his presence Death would become a release instead of a punishment. His eyes as black as night with blood-red flakes along the outer rim, his hair was neatly gelled back with a few loose strands tufting out over his forehead. Sharp condescending features, with a deadly fanged grin, he shook his head and addressed X, "You should have stayed with your dragon, Ryan, now Lord only knows what could possibly be in store for you all alone with a room full of immortals. Accidents do happen."

That was it, the cue for Tranika to slide open the balcony door, and without effort, her hand still cupped over Jacquie's mouth she swung the girl around like a rag-doll and they stepped out – well she stepped out, Jacquie was dragged – Melanie followed suit. X grinded his teeth together and balled his hands into tight fists, his knuckles started to turn white, "You throw them over and the entire world will be on your ass looking for your head on a silver platter."

Ethan chuckled and shrugged, "True, very true … that's if _two _girls go down at once … but if only one does … well, I _did _say accidents _do _happen."

Lazily Ethan sat down on a couch and reached for the glass coffee table that had three martini-glasses on silver-platters. Only, the glasses weren't filled with martini, but thick, warm blood, he cupped one in his hand and brought the glass to his lips for a lazy sip. X scowled, "What is he giving you?"

His onyx eyes shifted to X as he licked his lips to smirked, "Who's giving what to whom?"

"Lucifer smart-ass, what's he giving you to be his lackey."

Ethan nodded as if he were finally enlightened, "Oh, his majesty himself … hmm … what makes you think he and I have anything to do with one another? As far as I know his gripe is with angels, not vampires."

_Zing!_

_Krack!_

_Thonk!_

The martini-glass was shattered and blood dripped from Ethan's hand to his pants legs, to his shoes, and splattered all over the white carpet. Notched into far-wall was a red x-blade and droplets of blood splattered on the wall around it. Ethan made a sound a keen to an irritated whine and a pissed off hiss, it was a blatant warning that X should run and run fast, but as reckless as he was with a current zero-tolerance for bullshit. The thief didn't get the message, or just didn't care, "Start talking, if you just wanna fuck with me then find yourself another chum but I'm not leaving here without both of those girls."

Ethan sneered, "Well I'm sorry Ryan, but that's not going to happen, it's either you pick one, or you have none."

_Snap!_

His fingers snapped, Melanie and Tranika grabbed the girls and made a motion to the balcony, Jacquie whimpered and squirmed in Tranika's grasp, Tru grunted in discomfort her cinnamon eyes locked on her brother trying to read what he would do. He was so tense, so frustrated that if he gritted his teeth any harder his jaw would snap. She gulped and glanced up at Melanie, then to Jacquie and saw how scared she was. The poor girl, Tru thought dryly, she probably was never thrust into an intense situation like this before.

She probably thought she was going to die just because Tru was his sister, and logically he would save her instead. However, Tru, in knowing her brother knew his train of thought was as predictable as the weather, can never expect anything but the worse. Tru looked at Ethan and the blood on the carpet … and she chilled when the visions in her mind popped into her memory. Blood … _Splash of blood … _red – the color red – it could have meant her brother's alias, and the bargain … the Fear, her brother's fear.

_No … he's going to do something stupid …_ she figured, no, with that defiant look burning in his hot golden eyes she _knew_ he was going to do something _really_ stupid. She could not – _would not _– let it happen, so she did the first thing that she could think of, she stomped on Melanie's toe as hard as she could.

"Ow! You little bitch!" The vampire snarled in more shock than pain, but it did the trick, it free Tru long enough to grab the screwdriver she tucked into her sock under her pants leg. With a quick twirl she stabbed the tip the screwdriver right into Melanie's eye socket, then quickly yanked it out the vampire screamed and released her to hold her eye in pain, _"AHH!!"_

Tru wasted no time in charging Tranika sliding up and digging her shoulder into Jacquie's gut. The impact threw the already shocked vampire off balance. Tru then stabbed the tip of her screwdriver into Tranika's side, grabbed Jacquie's wrist and flung her against the guard rail to get her out of the way of Melanie, the woman Tru knew would come after her for revenge.

Ethan shot up off his seat and snarled to gain order, "Melanie!"

"I'll fucking kill you!" Melanie was seeing red, she was too far gone, she reached out and made a grab for Tru, but missed as Jacquie jumped on her back to gain her attention, it worked, but Tru screamed.

"Jacquie! No!"

Ethan barked, "Melanie! STOP!"

"Move!" X shoved Ethan to cross the living room, _No, no! They're going to go over! _"Jacquie!"

"You're not going anywhere!" Ethan nabbed the back of X's collar and dragged him back, the two squared off for a moment, before there was another scream.

It was Melanie and she managed to dig her claws into Jacquie's arms, Jacquie cried out and released her, and before she knew it her world was literally flipped upside down. She went flying and couldn't determine up from down, but she knew she was airborne, and sometime in mid-rotation she saw the fashion-show and also knew she wasn't going to live after this.

"_JACQUIE!" _Tru shriek in utter disbelief and shock, she couldn't believe it, not her, not Jacquie, she had nothing to do with this! Absolutely nothing! She ran to the edge of the rail to see for herself, she had to know; she just had to know if her one and only best friend in the entire world had literally just taken the fall for her.

Yet, just as she reached out for the rail, Melanie yanked her up and snarled, "You love her so much, then join her in hell!"

Her heart sank from her chest when she was _thrown_ off, _"RYAN!"_

"_TRU! NO!" _her brother screamed and tried to jerk himself from Ethan's grasp, but he wasn't strong enough.

Ethan growled, "Damnit Melanie! I told you to keep your fucking temper in order!"

"The bitch stabbed me in the eye and you expect me to be cool with that?! Kill him too!"

"We can't do that because _He_ still doesn't have the bracelet!"

"All this for a goddamn bracelet, if He's so desperate why doesn't the fucker get it himself! _Ahh …_ this is gonna take forever to heal!"

Tranika limped into motion, the shock from being stabbed by a kid rendered her momentarily speechless and motionless, a scowl on her pretty face as she glared at Melanie, but when her sights landed on Ryan she frowned, "Hey … is he gonna be okay?"

"Huh?" Ethan looked down at Ryan, the human he hadn't noticed had suddenly went basically limp and numb in his grasp, of course he was still standing, but his eyes were void and dead. As if his very soul had died with his sister's plummet off the balcony … he was staring into nothing, and he was unresponsive except for the few tears that involuntarily leaked out of his eyes like silent waterfalls that streamed down the sides of his face. Ethan rolled his eyes and jerked him down to the couch; Ryan did little but bounce, yet otherwise was still unresponsive, "Humans and their emotional attachments."

Tranika scoffed as she held her side, her wound healing faster than Melanie's – of course her wound wasn't missing body-parts – she limped into the room and leaned on the sliding-glass door, "Give'em a break Inferno, we can only put him through so much."

Ethan snapped at her with a vicious snarl that had her hissing in retaliation and fear, she shrank away from him and leaned close to Melanie as Ethan growled, "We've lost both of _His_ vessels, the DA and the Seekers are prowling all over this place and you think I should go easy on some human that's probably not worth my time? There's a reason you pose for pictures Tranika, you're too stupid for your own good, and you prove it every time you open your mouth."

"Then _you_ must be the dumbest creature on Earth." Tranika and Melanie gasped and scrambled away from the balcony and for good reason. Raven came flying up in all her gloom-and-doom glory with a purpleish-ominous halo hovering over her head and her eyes glowing her trademark white. She touched the tip of her toes to the rail and stepped down like there were invisible stairs.

Tranika and Melanie kept backing up till they were side-by-side with Ethan; Ethan in turn reached a clawed hand to the dreary Ryan and grabbed a hand full of his shirt. With that he yanked the human up to his feet and held him in front of Raven, a clawed finger to his throat, one puncture in the right place and he'd be a goner, "Come any closer half-breed and the human dies."

Raven tilted her head to the side, unbeknownst to them the dual doors into the hotel room were slowly drowned in black and before any of the vampires knew what hit them the doors were blown wide open. One of said doors slammed into Ethan, the force knocked him away from Ryan and separated him from Melanie and Tranika. Through the opening several vampires both Seeker and rogue poured in. Raven released her shadow, black tentacles slithered across the floor to snake their way around Tranika, Melanie and Ethan's bodies.

However, they quickly recovered from the shock and sank into the mayhem, Raven locked her attention on Ethan, but Tranika jumped her from the side, they both flew back and threw the glass-doors and stumbled over the edge of the balcony. Raven maneuvered them in mid-air so Tranika's back was to the pavement, then, with as much force as she could muster kicked her down and slammed her into the ground. They created a giant crater that Raven leapt out of and dodged an attack from a random vampire that was soon enough taken-care of by a Seeker.

It was a swift death, a single silver bullet to the heart and ashes blew into the wind leaving no trace, the Seeker turned to Raven, "Your human is still in the room, go get'im before he gets himself killed."

Raven nodded, but as she did there was an explosion in the same room and suddenly it was raining bodies, dead and alive. A chill shot down her spine when she spotted Ryan soaring through the air; he looked completely out of control with no sense of direction. Instinct told her to help him, but Tranika wasn't done with her yet, the vampire rose up from behind her fangs and claws dripping with bloodlust. The Seeker gasped and held up her gun, "Down!"

Raven ducked, the Seeker fired, but missed, Tranika rushed her and with a spin kick on six-inch heels nearly knocked the gun out of her hands, but the Seeker being a vampire herself grabbed Tranika's ankle and dropped her to the ground. Raven figured she had everything under control and turned her attention back to the madness that spilled onto the 'runway', now cleared out by the help of a friend.

Lucky Robin had come, gave her instant access to Jump City Police Department that quickly evacuated the building of all humans. Of course, under a false bomb-threat crisis, but at least it made handling their business easier with less worry of casualties. Speaking of casualties, she couldn't find Ryan anywhere, she followed his scent as the breeze blew upwind and found him in a clearing nearby a pool two-stepping with another vampire, but this one was a Seeker, clearly he didn't know that.

She called out to him, "X!"

He didn't hear her, he lashed out at the Seeker with a barrage of x-blades, the Seeker blocked them all with one swipe of his gun then charged with the intent to disable the human, Raven hurried onto the scene, "Stop! Wait!"

Too late the Seeker took a swipe, X stepped back to dodge, but lost his footing and crashed into the pool, sheer dumb-luck saved his ass, but apparently, even water couldn't alter his attack-mode. The Seeker cringed as the Dark Karma ring took effect and he experienced X's pain ten-fold, it froze him up long enough for the blades that sliced through the water and whizzed through the air to connect with their targets. Raven rushed in to shield the Seeker, her black shield shot up, but not fast enough one of the blades clipped her right shoulder, _"Ahh!"_

X breeched the surface with a gasp and with two more blades in his hand he scowled and shouted at Raven, "Move!"

She winced and slowly dropped her shield, she glanced back at the Seeker and nodded her head, "Go, I can take care of this."

He shot her a skeptical look his eyes shifting from her face to her cut, he was concerned, but he had another job to do so he left hoping that it was the right thing to do. Raven sighed heavily and held her shoulder as she walked to the edge of the pool and sneered at him, "Tru and Jacquie are alright, I ordered Malchior is looking out for them, of course they wouldn't have gotten into the mess they had if you and your brother had just left everything for us to handle."

He froze and nearly drowned himself for doing so, "Wha … Tru and Jacquie …"

She nodded, "Yes … now control your temper because as much as you'd love to I can't allow you to kill Ethan … not without probable-cause."

X swam to the edge of the pool and pulled himself up out of the water, "Excuse me … _'probable-cause'?_ That bastard held my sister and Jacquie hostage and told _me_ to choose who should die, then he uses _me_ as the hostage and you're telling me that ain't enough to strap him into the electric chair?"

"Self-defense, unless he attacks you directly, you can't go rushing in guns-blazing … in fact," she glanced over her should at the hotel when she picked up the distant snarling, growling, hissing, and shouting, then turned back to X, "You should stay here, play your role as a human celebrity confused about the goings-on."

He frowned and shrugged off his heavy, drenched dress-jacket, he threw it back into the pool and shook his head to shake off the excess water then smoothed it back so his golden eyes could clearly see the insistent sorceress, "And that leaves you to what? Go off and play Bonny-badass? I don't think so."

She shot him a dry look, "You cut me with your careless display of irrational thought, I think I can live, besides I don't have to play anything, in a few minutes the situation will have resolved itself, Ethan is predictable …"

"…" X's frown let up a little, and for a moment he expressed guilt for hurting her when his eyes finally landed on the healed wound on her shoulder with blood staining the corner of the beautiful golden corset dress she was wearing. He chewed on his lip, his conscience telling him to apologize, but his mind was elsewhere, he made a mental note to promise to make it up to her later, but for now, he sighed heavily, "Yeah, Ethan may be predictable … but where's Lucifer?"

She slowly blinked her indigo eyes, then shifted her gaze away from him in discreet frustration because she couldn't answer him, "…"

Meanwhile, Ethan sank into the shadows, his back literally against the wall a scowl on his face as he observed the scene before him, he was loosing, nothing was going as planned, everything was falling apart! He had to get out of there, pronto. Without so much as a second thought he darted through the hall as fast as he could, trying not to pick up too much attention from the Seekers that were apprehending his men. He just didn't account for Melanie calling out to him in desperation, "Ethan! Help!"

He stopped and glanced over his shoulder at the once exotically, and astonishing beautiful Asian model with one eye missing and blood dripping form her face, her hair in disarray. She looked so helpless, but he didn't care, with a quick turn on his heel he left her to deal with her own problems, she was no use to him now other than distracting the Seekers from his escape.

However, Bastian would only let his leash stretch so far, "Oh no you don't …" he grinned as he swirled around a rogue vampire that dared to lash out at him, a flick of his wrist and his sword – silver coated and all – sliced him from his left shoulder down. Gracefully he maneuvered through the crowd, twirled his sword, cocked his arm back and threw it down the hall.

Ethan was about to round the corner when the sword embedded itself in the wall in front of him, he stopped dead in his tracks then spun around to go the other way, but three Seekers jumped in his way and blocked him, he was corned, trapped, game over. He snarled, _NO! I will not be taken alive!_ He jumped at one of the Seekers, but two of them leapt in place and subdued him, dropped him to the ground on his stomach and restrained his hands behind his back.

Bastian coolly strutted their way and pulled his katana out of the wall, another Seeker looked up at him and with a jerk of his head gestured to Ethan, "You going to call it?"

Bastian smiled, "No … he's within your jurisdiction I just came to help."

The Seeker grinned and snickered, Bastian had once again exceeded his own reputation.

The elf snapped his katana back into its sheath and calmly strolled out of sight, once Ethan was down the rest of his men couldn't find the strength to fight and many of them were even running to escape their fate. Bastian took an easy breath as he walked down the stairwell towards the dressing room where Malchior was told to watch out for the girls.

Bastian decided to contact his partners telepathically, _"We're all clear … Ethan's under custody and the Seekers are happy to have finally collared the thorn on their sides."_

Raven nearly killed his chirpy mood when she asked, _"Any sign of Lucifer?"_

"_Ah … um … still working on that, but I highly doubt he's in the building … I don't sense anything."_

"… _Right …" _she didn't believe him … or knew more than what she was letting on, either or, Bastian frowned. He hated it when she kept things from him, from anyone important in her life for that matter. It made it seem as if she didn't trust anyone to look out for her well-being, like she had to do it all on her own. He sighed heavily and shook his head.

Raven looked up at X and nodded, "It's all clear, we can see the girls now."

His face lit up and he took off for the section of the lobby used for the Fashion Show where Raven told him his sister and Jacquie were being kept safe. Raven followed him, but at a slower pace, her mind somewhere far off in a distant location, but otherwise her guard up on high-alert. Her head tilted up and to the side when she sensed Robin watching her, how he got passed the armed protection, she had her guesses, but that wasn't her concern.

Quickly, she sank into the ground and appeared before him, the sudden black shadow forming from the ground into his friend being something he was so use to it didn't even startle him. Robin leaned on the pillar and quietly asked as she dusted herself off looking as aloof and dry as ever, granted with more of a stylish edge with the corset-dress she was still wearing, he asked, "Everything okay?"

She looked up at him with those impenetrable violet eyes, cold-steel walls that guarded her soul from curious on-lookers, the thick eyeliner and eye-shadow bringing the intensity of her already harsh gaze to a whole other level. She took a deep breath and smoothed back her violet hair as she nodded, "Everything is under control, problems been dealt with."

He nodded in turn, "That's good, you handled the situation calmly and didn't blow your cover, and you seem to know exactly what you're doing … I'm proud of you."

She blinked slowly and her familiar dry look returned to her beautiful face, "Proud of me, are we having a moment here?"

Robin grinned handsomely and chuckled, "Maybe, I'm just glad I don't have to pull you off this assignment."

A look of realization crossed her violet eyes, and she pouted, it was the cutest face Robin had ever seen her make, "… That's why you're here; you wanted to see if I really could do this on my own."

He shrugged, "Well, when you don't contact us for a few days it's natural for friends to worry over your well-being … the others wanted to take a vote to pull you off the case. In fact," he chuckled again, "they're starting to feel guilty for setting you up."

Raven sneered, "Then let them wallow in their guilt, I'll take care of them later."

For a moment they shared that familiar lighthearted kinship enhanced through their bond, they both seemed to relax tremendously and Raven felt more of the human-warmth within her start to return. Robin ran his fingers through his spiky hair and he cleared his throat, "Soo … you found out who X really is … when are you gonna let me in on the secret?"

"… Soon enough," she responded, but she blinked and looked off to the side, a clear sign that she was either lying or reluctant to tell the truth, Robin narrowed his eyes.

"Raven …" he said in warning, but there was an eavesdropper getting too close, she couldn't heed it. She sensed him and it made her uneasy to know he had gotten thus far without being detected. She reframed from gritting her teeth and instead slid up to Richard to hug him tightly. He never skipped a beat and returned the gesture in full and whispered in her ear, "I trust you Rae … so don't do anything I wouldn't do …"

She responded by hugging him tighter, and then slowly let him go. She slipped out of his embrace and cracked a small smile when he winked supportively at her then turned to walk away out of her life for God only knew how long this time around. Although, he wouldn't let her go without a final question, "Oh, and by the way … Kori wants to know if you could get her an autograph picture of James, think you could do that for her?"

Rae scowled, "She can get it her damn self."

He laughed and it was all she could do to not undo one of her stilettos and fling it at him. Yet despite his playful jibe she knew he was worried about her, and he had every right to be, she was playing with fire and soaking the matches with gasoline. She knew it was only a matter of time before everything blew up in her face, she could feel it … just like she could feel him looming over her shoulder gazing at her with a curious expression, "With the way you correlate with him one would think you're lovers instead of siblings … but of course, I find nothing wrong with that … the most forbidden tend to be the most delectable. You should know."

A hand, large and oppressive and a sort of tantalizing gentleness placed on her bare shoulder. Upon such a hand there was a collection of three rings to make up one that when aligned correctly spelled the Azarian character for _'souls': Shta. _It was uniquely designed within various jewels embedded into the golden rings, how did Raven know this? Legends and stories at her home told and passed on for generations depicted a being which harbors bad-souls to spite the heavens for damning him to an eternity in darkness. It was a story to scare the children into behaving themselves around their elders … but Raven knew better.

With slight pressure he gestured for her to turn around and face him, she did and with a gentle smile he welcomed her with open arms, his luscious chocolate brown eyes sweet and endearing. He was the typical best friend, if said best friend had ulterior motives for appearing in person. His voice, so soft and gentle, alluring with a sprinkle of adorable mischief, he whispered, "Embrace me child, and know no pain."

She gulped and found her body moving on its own accord, her demon-self pulled into his power, submission to her master, her lord, her savior, she shall obey.

_No, we won't!_ Raven gritted her teeth and stopped just inches from his chest, forcefully she moved back, her demon whined in disappointment and outrage, but she ignored it and instead out of mock respect she bowed in acknowledgement, "Though I appreciate the kind gesture my lord has offered, I expect that a bow of welcome would suffice for the time being."

He slowly dropped his arms to his side and he nodded his head, "Very well … see to it that the gesture is taken to heart."

Raven slowly rose up, but the instant her head tilted up and her eyes meet his, his hand came back to rest on her shoulder though his thumb was pressed to her throat and threatened to either puncture her windpipe or chock it off. Either or, the motion startled her and she backed up which gave him the momentum he needed to gently push her back up against the pillar and apply deadly pressure on her windpipe. It was uncomfortable, very uncomfortable to say the least and it didn't help when he leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers forcing her to see and feel only him.

His aura was overpowering it, forget the thumb on her neck, his power was suffocating.

He grinned and whispered still with that soft gently voice that made her feel more loved than threatened despite the words he uttered, "My dear, though I've accepted your show of loyal affection previously, I never acquiesced to your display of sovereignty with those striking eyes of yours. The flame resembles too much of your father for my tastes … but your mother … what a shame you could not have inherited her dove-like nature. Such a pretty little rosebud you could have been."

Raven tried to gulp, but he was cutting her off, out of instinct she picked up her hand and grabbed his wrist to stop him from going any further. He smiled apologetically, and removed his hand from her shoulder to cup the side of her face she glared defiantly and scowled, "You're not getting the chain back and neither will I let you so much as lay another finger on those girls."

"Mark me, child, those girls will never have suffered the same fate as I will pass to you for your insubordination," his smile left his face as he removed his hand from her face and straightened out his jacket then smoothed back his light brown hair, and took a deep breath, "soon enough, I will call on you, and you will come."

"And if I don't …"

He snickered as if there was a joke to be shared among friends, "Frankly my dear, you haven't a choice, it's high time I take back what is rightfully mine, the readings say so, and I won't let your conscience get in the way."

"The readings also state you have no power to steal souls."

"No, but I have every right to insanity and madness … and the human mind is so fragile … if you do not respond, God only knows how many friends with mortal souls you have."

"…"

"James is coming, he's quite upset with that face you have on," he placed a hand back on her shoulder and patted it as a false sense of security, "so do put on a smile for him, or its going to be hard to keep our little conversation to ourselves. No need to invite unwanted attention. Have a good evening."

**--**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, DC does**

**A/N: WOOO summer's here! Finally! Now all I have to look forward to is my math and English placement exams and I'm through till the fall … why doesn't that loud as satisfying as I'd like it to in my head. Oh well, but **_**anyway**_** continuing on, apparently we're not done just yet, at least Lucy ain't with out little Raven just yet, nope, not by a long shot.**

**See you guys in the next chapter.**

**L8er daez, luv yaz!! **


	22. Fork Road

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Fork Road**

"Uncle Ryan!" Jacquie exclaimed from across the dressing-room where she stood with Tiffany and Theo, X smirked and raised a hand in greeting. His golden eyes swept the sight before him and found his sister sitting on a chair, slouching in it, pouting and looking adorable in doing so. His brother was leaning on the back of said chair with a relieved look on his face, and why shouldn't he be, their little odd-family was back together and safe … for now anyway.

X sucked in a deep breath to help himself relax and expel all negative thoughts, what happens in the future is irrelevant to what happens in the present. He narrowed his eyes on Tru and a playful scowl found its way on his lips, "Tru, you pull another stunt like that and I'll kill you myself."

She rolled her eyes skyward and sank deeper into the chair, she closed her eyes and sighed heavily, "Well, you didn't seem to have any ideas either, and it was either watch you do something stupid, and kill yourself or –"

"Or you do something insane enough to _almost_ kill yourself?" X interjected and put a finger to the side of her head and drilled it in hard enough for her to jerk it away and sneer at him, he smirked down at her then ruffled her hair, "You crazy girl."

"Where do you think I learn half the things I know?" She moved his hand from her head and leapt off the high chair to escape her brother's assault, but apparently she forgot she had a second brother that scooped her up in his arms and cradled her like a little baby.

"Oh my dear, dear baby-sister," Felix purred, Tru rolled her eyes, "you do know it's one thing to learn it, but another to actually imitate it and I know I've taught you a lady should never reenact stupidity."

Ryan sneered.

Tru was getting annoyed, so she growled, "Put me down!"

Felix smothered her a moment longer then put her back on her feet, she snorted and proceeded to fix herself up, her cinnamon eyes happened to glance up at Theo who smiled and winked, "Aw, don't be so tight Tru, you know your brothers are just happy you're safe and sound."

Tru scoffed, "Yeah … right … safe and sound with them is like being a worm on a hook, the metaphor goes on from there …'

Theo giggled, "You know Tru, you're too smart for your own age."

"Meh …" Tru pouted with her arms crossed over her chest and looked away from everyone trying to hide the blush on her cheeks as she flipped her hair onto her right shoulder. Her eyes drifting from the dressing-room towards the exit and beyond to catch a glimpse of Raven and her 'brother' in a warm embrace, it was so believable, but Tru with a tilt of her head realized something, "Hey … is that Rae's brother?"

James followed her line of sight and scoffed, "_Acting_ brother you mean."

"Yeah, whatever … but is that him?"

"I guess."

"… Felix," Tru glanced back at he older brother, "Doesn't he look familiar?"

Felix stepped to her side and watched as Richard stepped away from Raven and his lips curled into a sneaky smirk, "Well, well, well … if my eyes don't deceive me, that's Dick Grayson."

"What? No way," X, joined by Tiffany, Theo and Jacquie jumped to flank his sister and brother to get a closer look, "Bruce Wayne's adoptive kid? He's a Titan?"

Felix shook his head, "Maybe not a Titan, but Bruce supports the Teen Titans as well as the Justice League one hundred percent … I wouldn't be surprised if Dick offers his services every now and again … hello … who's this?"

Jacquie gasped softly, her heart-rate jumped, and her body began shaking so bad she thought the ground was trembling, but it wasn't, it was her. Her stomach tied itself into such tight knots she was sure she'd throw up an empty gut when she remembered his tongue on her check, his hot breath on her skin. The memory was so real she could feel it even now as she stood with her sister, her best friend, her brother-in-law, and her uncle.

They were always there to protect her; they could defend her from anything and everything … but against _Him?_ The doubt in her mind grew to a paranoia-degree, she felt her world start to sway and her head get light, her shaky hand reached out to grab something, anything to keep her in reality. Tru's hand was there to slip into her's and Tru gripped it tightly to reassure her that everything was going to be okay, he wasn't coming for them … he couldn't come for them … they were heavily guarded.

Plus, he was with Raven, he wouldn't dare make a move with Raven around, she'd fight to the death for them, she would … wouldn't she? Tru gritted her teeth and moved back with Jacquie, and found out much to her disappointment that she held Jacquie's hand more for her own reassurance. She bumped into her brother, which one she didn't know and frankly she didn't care, she just wanted to get the hell out of there before _He_ looked their way and came for them.

"That's Him, isn't it?" Tru closed her eyes when she heard Ryan whisper in her ear, she concentrated on that, his voice, so familiar, caring, protective, and real.

She gulped and nodded, "Lucifer …"

That's all he needed to know, he straightened up and headed for the lobby prepared for anything, but Theo called out to him, "Ryan …"

He didn't hear her, he was already out the door, however, just as he got close enough to hear Him bid her a good-evening, Ryan reached out to grab Him, but He exploded in a brilliant display of pure white doves. All of which scattered into the air and out the wide open arches, into the dark-night skies, X watched all the birds fly further from his grasp till they blinked out of existence. Then he slowly looked down at Raven as she dusted the white fallen feathers from her golden gown. He tilted his head in question, "You let him go … why?"

"…" she didn't say anything, she didn't even look at him as she moved around him to head to the dressing-room in order to get out of the dress she was in, it was still suffocating her.

However, X grabbed her elbow and made sure she wasn't going anywhere, she will give him an answer, "Raven, why did you let him go."

She sneered and bared her fangs at him, her indigo eyes shifting to dark violet as she jerked her arm out of his grasp, her growl deepened to an almost primal snarl that went beyond her norm. It almost scared her to know she could sound so inhuman, "Because I had no other choice, just be thankful he decided to leave and not demand the bracelet back otherwise it would have been your soul."

Something was bothering her; X knew it, "What did he tell you? What did he say?"

"Nothing that concerns you."

She was pushing him away, so he pushed back harder, "If that's the case then it does concern me, what the hell did he say to you?"

"From here on out he's not your problem, so you can stop being so adamant about knowing what you shouldn't."

"That's not what I asked!"

"Well deal with it because that's all you're getting!" Raven snapped back, she could feel his frustration and her own rising to levels that could be avoid if she'd only find the strength enough to leave him alone … to let Robin have him. It would make her job so much easier, her life for that matter, Raven sucked in a deep breath and reached a hand up to pull out the pins that held her hair up in elaborate curls and layers. They were giving her a headache … or was it just her? She huffed in exasperation and exhaustion, "I don't know why you keep pushing things the way you do when all it serves to do is complicate the situation."

"Well, I wouldn't have to push if you'd just work with me here."

She sneered at him and shook her head, but other than that, she didn't say another word, she just walked away and into the dressing-room, she brushed passed Felix and Tru as she picked up her clothes and with an erected black shield around her she changed. Only her outline showing through as she phased through the gown and into her dark blue low-rise jeans and a tight dark-gray turtleneck blouse with a tear-drop shaped cut on the chest.

She dropped the shield and her hair cascaded down over her left shoulder and shifted back to black. While her eyes transformed back to indigo-blue, she sucked in another deep breath and without caring she tossed the gown on the back of a chair and slowly released her breath. She gazed down at the pensive Tru, and as she reached for the bag she brought to the set she pulled out the girl's tome and handed it to her, "Twenty pages tonight, starting from the back, this time I want the sprit to do more than dance. If you feel yourself getting tired, stop at once and go to sleep, understood?"

Tru reached for the book and clutched it to her chest then nodded and offered Raven a small smile of gratitude, glad that through all the chaos the Titan Sorceress was still willing to teach her the proper ways of tome-reading. For a moment it made her forget all about the fact that the Devil himself was after her. Jacquie may call her weird for finding pleasure in such bizarre conduct, but it made her happy, and made her feel like a kid again.

In fact, just knowing Raven was teaching her was enough to make her want to run into the sorceress's arms and hug her to extend her gratitude, but she held back. Tru had too much pride to be a kid … she was an old soul trapped in a child's body, and like an old soul, she reserved her modesty and simply turned to her brothers who both seemed to share looks of suspicion, doubt, and skepticism. It took her a moment to figure out why, but once she did, it made her frown when the reality of the situation smacked her across the face; _She's a Titan … _her cinnamon eyes shifted back to Raven.

The sorceress took in a deep breath and sighed heavily as she made her way back to the exit; she stopped at the door and glanced over her shoulder, "Are we leaving? Or are we staying for a photo-op?"

X sneered, and shrugged sarcastically, "Hell if I know, my publicist isn't here so it's probably not a good idea without her guiding me."

Raven nodded, "Then it's a No."

She didn't look back when she shrugged the bag on her shoulder and calmly – coolly – walked back out of the dressing room, and it seemed from out of nowhere Malchior and Bastian flanked her sides as the Bodyguard and the Stylist. Tommy Morgan looked back at the twisted family and waved, "You people coming or what? I'd like to be getting my ass out of here as soon as possible before the paparazzi arrive, wouldn't you?"

He giggled as if it was all a game and James, Felix, Tiffany, Theo or Jacquie didn't knew what to make of it, but Tru seemed to have some thought, because she followed after the trio and in turn so did James, but not without a few words from his brother. Felix sighed heavily, "I could never make heads or tails with that girl … even when she was among those who protected me back in the day. Promise me you'll watch your back with that one?"

James smirked, "Yeah, I'll see what I can do with to get her out of the house."

Theo frowned in worry, "How do you plan to do that?"

"… You'll see."

Tiffany scoffed, "Sounds like something stupid is about to take place … I won't have any part of it, come on Jacquie, let's go I think you've had enough fun for one day."

Jacquie sighed tiredly and nodded in agreement, her hand reached up to grip her sister's as they walked out of the dressing room with Felix in tow giving his brother one last final look of warning, "James, whatever it is you have concocted in that brain of yours, make sure it doesn't involve Tru."

James rolled his eyes, "Yeah, whatever, you got my word."

Felix still had his doubts, but was pretty sure James would take care of everything.

He usually does.

With that, they split off, Felix, Tiffany and Jacquie going one way out of the lobby, and James and Theo going the other way following after Rae, Tommy and the Bodyguard. Theo had her arm hooked onto James, her head tilted to one side as she stared at the ground distantly; James happened to glance down at her and nudged her with his elbow, "Hey, wasup? Why the long face?"

She blinked and looked up at him with her amazingly beautiful jade-green eyes that seemed so vibrant in the darkened night; she sucked in a deep breath then slowly exhaled and shrugged, "I … don't know … anything anymore …"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"… It's my father … and my mother … you know they're both full-demons right?"

James nodded carefully, "Yeah …"

"Well … after Raev – eh – um, Rae told us that it didn't matter if I asked my father for assistance in finding Lucifer because he now has full command of the demons in this world … well … I've been thinking, why doesn't my father or mother show any indication of activity?"

"… That's a good question … you should ask her."

"I would … but … well …"

"Well what?"

She stopped and turned to face him, "Look, James, I know you're not stupid … she's a half-breed, but I'm sure you've deduced that she's not just any normal half-breed."

"Yeah, she's the Princess of Hell, or whatever that means … she holds a high honor in the demon society."

Theo scoffed, "High-honor doesn't even cut it James, in demon society, because of who her father is she outranks _my_ father, and if Lucifer were to have a royal court _she'd _be apart of it."

James shook his head, "Theo, what exactly is your point here, do you really think it matters to me of title and reputation? You know it doesn't."

"But in her case it should!" Theo exclaimed suddenly, but pulled back and calmed down, "James, I was just thinking … what if … and this is just a theory … but … what if Lucifer has nothing to do with us anymore … what if it's more to do with _her _and _Him_? She'd be right in saying we're just getting in the way. Ryan, you got to get away from her before she drags you into something you can't get out of."

"…" His face was expressionless as he stared at her, letting her words and information sink in.

It frightened Theo how serious he looked, she wanted her carefree Ryan back, she wanted him to be smirking and reassuring her arrogantly that everything was going to fine. Sure it'll be a lie, but it'll let her know that he wasn't thinking what she was hoping he wouldn't be thinking. She cupped his face and forced him to look deep in her green eyes, to see how much she loved him, almost so much it hurt to be unable to know if he felt the same way. She whispered softly, pleadingly, "Please Ryan … get away from her now … you have that chance, take it, please."

Slowly, his lips turned up in that cheeky smirk she loved so much, that look she was praying for to reassure her that everything was going to be okay … but it was just the beginning of the end. He pulled away from her grasp and reached a hand behind her head to bring her close so he could kiss the top of her head, "You worry too much Thee, now go home … this doesn't concern _you_ anymore … I'll be fine, you know me."

She felt her heart drop and a very cold chill race up her spine, "Ryan –"

"Go home Thee." He was more adamant this time, and with that he pulled away from her and with a lazy two-finger salute a left her standing in the lobby, with the awful taste of a final goodbye.

--

As the limo pulled up around the back Tru clutched her book close to her chest and looked up at Raven as she turned to address both Bastian the Elf and Malchior the Dragon, her partners and in some ways her crutches to help her in her times of insanity. Malchior, as cool as a cucumber crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes suspiciously on the Half-Breed, "So is this where we part company?"

Raven nodded her eyes unable to hold either of their intense gazes, "I'm afraid so … this is where I handle things on my own."

Malchior _tsked_ and snarled, muttering something in a language Tru didn't recognize, but recognized it to be some form of curse. Bastian eyed him warningly before turning to Raven and smiling supportively, "You sure? You don't _look_ too sure of yourself."

She chewed on her lower lip, and decided to be honest for once, "I'm not."

"Then why go through with this on your own?" Malchior more demanded than asked.

"Because I'm the only one who can," she looked at him, "Red X is my problem alone."

Malchior advanced her, "That, my _dear_, isn't what we're talking about."

She sneered and stood her ground against him, "Than what is it you were referring too."

"Don't play dumb, I can smell _Him_ all over you … He's not through with you, it's not over."

She betrayed nothing, her face was a straight poker-expression, and with a lazy blink she looked off, suddenly bored, "Suppose it's not over … what do you expect to do? Fight for my heart and honor like a true knight in shining armor? Rorek played the part well enough; I don't think a dragon can."

"Rorek was a wizard looking for fame and glory, not a knight … and I am neither, I don't claim to be, and have never considered becoming one, but I am what I am, and I think you're being idiotically stubborn."

"… Thank you …"

The dragon blinked and jolted his head back, stupefied, "What?"

Raven pulled away from him and opened the door to the limo, she gestured for Tru to get in as she looked up at the bewildered Malchior and the amused Bastian, and repeated herself, "Thank you … I know I'm being idiotically stubborn, but now that you understand that, then you'll understand that no matter what you say or do I won't change my mind. Now do what you can with Bastian and find out who helped Lucifer onto the surface. The chain may have been broken, but getting to this realm is no easy feat, even for him."

Bastian burst into a fit of giggles, and snickers, Malchior looked at him as if he'd grown two heads, then turned back to Raven and opened his mouth to continue the argument, but Bastian put a hand on his arm and pulled him back, "Never mind Malchior … she's right … no matter what you say or do she just won't listen, better to let her go and attempt a daring rescue at the end."

Malchior growled, "You think this is all a joke?"

Bastian thought for a moment, then shrugged, "Yeah."

"You're crazy!"

"I prefer the term slightly-unstable, but who'd listen to the crazy person?" He chuckled lightly and glanced over his shoulder when he sensed X's arrival.

Malchior followed his gaze and huffed in irritation, "You're going to let her go with him still tagging around?"

"Why not? He's quite capable of the uncapable in a world of misunderstood capabilities …" Malchior shot him a dry glare, Bastian put a hand to his mouth, "Whoops, there goes the crazy talking again."

Malchior rolled his eyes, "You're unfathomable you know that?"

Bastian shrugged and smiled as X's golden eyes glanced from Dragon to Elf, "Ah, there he is, the man of the hour, it's not very polite to keep the ladies waiting for their knight-in-shining-armor."

X arched a confused and questioning brow.

Malchior rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Bastian's smile turned into a grin as he chuckled again.

X walked around the two and slid up to Raven who stood holding the door of the limo open, she asked, "What took you?"

He shook his head and dismissively answered, "Ah, had to take care of something … uh … are they coming with us?"

"No … they were just leaving."

Her violet eyes narrowed on Malchior as the dragon stared at her doubtfully, then shook his head and turned away from them to disappear from their lives for the time being. Bastian would follow, but not without saying his farewell, "I promise you Scathe, we'll take care of everything."

She nodded, "I don't doubt you Bastian."

With that both Dragon and Elf vanished out of sight and out of human existence.

Raven slid into the car, X came in after her and slammed the door shut, Tru sat across from them, her back to the driver a light turned on and her nose buried into that tome of hers. It brought a great sense of comfort and slight normalcy for X that his sister was within his sights delightfully reading a book … like she never left his side for a single day. He sighed in relief and sat back in his chair, slouched in it, actually, after shrugging off his dress-jacket and tossing it to the floor of the limo, "Ah, that's better."

Raven looked out her window and watched the lights of the city pass as the driver set a cool and steady pace for them back to the Villa. Although, her mind was thousands of miles away from reality and still racing, thinking, trying to come up with a plan to get herself out of this mess without hurting anyone close to her. In fact, she was thinking about who was close to her to begin with so she may keep an eye on them if anything should happen … her friends within the Teen Titan community that's for sure.

Who else did she have to worry about?

Her violet eyes glanced at Tru and she frowned as she closed her eyes and chewed on her lower lip, _Would X and his family really be considered close? Even Theo? I hardly know her … Tiffany? I don't think I like very much … Jacquie … she's just a child and He knows I'd do anything to protect her and Tru … X … mutual understanding …_

_Oh, you make me sick the way you come up with lame excuses for yourself._

_Stop talking, I'm trying to think._

_I'm trying to help._

_Well you're not helping so stop talking._

"Hey …" for once Raven was thankful for X speaking up to interrupt her inner-argument with herself, she blinked her eyes open and looked his way, to see his head was tilted back on the chair, but turned in her direction. One of his amber eyes covered over by a cowlick of hair that stubbornly fell over his face as he asked her wistfully, "Why does the elf call you Scathe?"

"…" for a second she didn't know what to say, she blinked in thought, then responded dryly, "Because it's my father's name …"

He arched a brow and sat up, "So your last name is Scathe?"

She sighed heavily and shook her head, "No, my father's name in this world is Scathe, he has demon followers that refer to themselves as Scathes, so you can say Bastian is just calling me what I am, a Scathe."

"Who is your father?"

Tru glanced up from her reading, her attention now diverted and intrigued.

Raven narrowed her eyes and looked away from him, back out the window as she answered softly and distantly, "He's a Demon Warlord … one of the first of the Fallen who descended into hell with Lucifer …"

"So … he didn't fall because he met your mother?"

She shook her head, "No, he was already a demon when I was conceived."

"You know why he fell?"

"No, and I don't care."

"Then why are you getting so personal with Lucifer?"

_Because he belongs in Hell and if I have to I'll go back and make sure he stays there for good … him and my father …_ she thought with dangerous determination ablaze in her violet eyes that X couldn't see with the back of her head facing him, so she answered him with shrug, "He's the embodiment of evil … and you know that term: _'Hell on Earth'_? Well … if he wins, that term becomes a reality."

Then, out of the blue Tru spoke up, "Then why don't the angels intervene?"

Raven looked at Tru, her inquisitive cinnamon eyes waiting for a true answer that Raven couldn't deny, so she answered as best she could, "Because the angels on this Earth are here to guide humans into the path of faith, hope, trust, and belief. What has been written will be and they have no right to stop it … granted they don't like it, but it's not their job to be heroes."

"Heroes huh?" X scoffed, "What a jip. In order to be saved we have to believe? Feh."

Raven couldn't help to remember when they first met as James Jax and Rae Roth … when her mission was simple and clear, what she said to him on the limo ride, she repeated, "Who said you _had _to believe in anything?"

He blinked slowly and slowly a smirk formed on his lips, then he shot her a sly grin that said it all. He remembered.

Tru watched them carefully and tilted her head in wonder, "You know …" they both looked at her, their moment shattered as she eyed them suspiciously, "… I've only been gone a day …"

X broke into a secretive snicker, Raven looked away hiding the light blush on her face, and Tru sat still confused, but suspicious.

--

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Teen Titans, DC does**

**A/N: Hmm, bittersweet, I almost feel sorry for Theo and fear not, that isn't the end of Malchior or Bastian, you'll see them again soon enough, especially mister Lucifer himself and if you were paying attention to Theo and X's conversation then you know that, that isn't the end of Theo. Like I said, I almost feel sorry for the poor girl, but ANYWAY, besides all that, I'll see you guys in the next chappie, and thank you all for reading and being patient with me thus far, makes me feel oh-so loved )**

**L8er daez**


	23. Roughhousing

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Roughhousing **

Raven sucked in a deep breath, her back stiff straight, head bowed, and eyes closed her hands pressed together in front of her, she opened her mouth a crack and whispered a few choice words. Chanted them really, then in one fluid motion she changed her position and like water she flowed from one stance to the next in perfect sync with the world around her. She harmonized with the ocean breeze that whipped and played with her long violet hair while the leaves in the trees giggled and sighed as the wise and mighty ocean crashed into the cliffs beyond the thicket.

Yes, the world acknowledged her power, even bowed in respect as she spun slowly, but her aura though invisible to the naked eye swirled around her picking up dust and disbursing as her arms stretched out and dispelled her evening warm-up. Though rejuvenated, she slowly opened her eyes and stared at the ground with an unpleased frown, _Four days … I've been here for four days … and still nothing … but I feel it coming … he'll summon me soon enough …_

_SNAP!_

It was a twig, someone was watching.

Raven jerked her head up, her eyes glowed a deadly-white and her hand went up and started glowing black prepared for everything. She stiffened when she looked down and saw it was only Tru, the little girl peeked from around one of the larger trees, clutching her tome. Her cinnamon eyes gazed upon Raven as she cracked a hesitant smile, looking so much like her brother, "Heh … sorry, I couldn't help to watch …"

"…" Raven relaxed, she dropped her hand and sighed heavily as she brought her other hand up to her forehead, she's just been so uptight lately, and who could blame her? The Lord of Hell himself will call on her at anytime and if she were to not answer then those associated with her will surely suffer insanity, a fate – she knew in the hands of the Devil – will be far worse than Death. Raven looked down at Tru and her book then asked, "Did you do as I asked?"

She nodded, "I read the passages, performed the warm-ups and attempted the steps …"

"So am I to assume you're ready to perform the incantation without fail?"

Tru chewed on her lower lip self-consciously, "I don't know … I think I'm ready …"

"Good, we'll give it another night and start first thing tomorrow, it's getting late." Raven smoothed back her violet hair and walked up to Tru, she put a hand on top of her head as a small gesture of encouragement. Tru, for the pass four days, found that, that was all she'll ever get from the sorceress in terms of a proud gesture, and in turn she found she was happy with that.

Obediently she followed the sorceress back into the Villa, but as they traversed the beaten trail leading from the Villa to the cliffs, Tru couldn't help to ask, "What you were just doing … what was that?"

"Another form of meditation, but unlike the one I've shown you that helps you focus and find your center to blot out the world. What I've done is a method of raising one's ki."

"Ki?"

"You're energy level," Raven shook her head, and looked down at Tru as they stepped up to the door. Tru couldn't help to notice how the red-gem on the sorceress's forehead suddenly gleamed and twinkled in the twilight as she shared her wisdom, "but don't expect me to teach you it, it's not something to be taken lightly."

Tru nodded in understanding, but couldn't help to fire off another question before they went their separate ways again; even though they lived in the same house it was hard to keep tabs on Raven. She could be everywhere and nowhere when she chose to be, so Tru took advantage of this moment together as acquaintances, "What about that gem on your head? What does that mean?"

Raven stared at her and blinked then reached up to tap the red-gem on her forehead as she replied, "This is a representation of one of the seven chakra points upon the body. This, also, is a method of finding one's center and focus."

"Oh … so where are the other six?"

"Aren't you inquisitive today."

Tru shrugged, "Well, I kind a figured since we've been together for about a week now I'm entitled to _some_ personal information … I mean … the Devil himself was after Jacquie and me, and you step in to risk your life to save us. That's gotta account for something huh?"

Raven couldn't stop the small smile forming on the corner of her lips and proud glint in her eye even if she tried, the kid was just too adorable and too smart for her own good, "Maybe … now go in the kitchen, I'm sure Hedrick made something for you to eat."

"But –"

"Eat," Raven insisted with a tone that left no room for arguments, Tru pouted, but otherwise followed orders and skipped off to the kitchen, her stomach rumbling as she smelt the familiar delicious scent of delectable pizza.

Raven sighed and pulled back her hair so it wasn't in her way so much as she sauntered towards the living-room where Jinx was sitting on the couch watching the news with her ear attached to her cell-phone maintaining her job as a publicist. She controlled both Rae's and James's public image while conducting research – the news, was a celebrity watch – currently on TV was an anchor asking the same question everyone else in the world was asking.

Where is Rae Roth?

Ever since the Sandcastle incident her career took off.

Everyone wanted her or wanted to be her or wanted to be with her or wanted to get rid of her.

She was the talk of the town, interesting topic of conversation, and much, much more.

Raven, was getting tired of hearing it for four days straight, she scowled and with her power she called to the remote and shut the TV off just as James's face popped on screen. Jinx glanced over her shoulder to find Raven scowling and she hung up the cell-phone, "I'll call you back, bye. Raven! Sooo … about tonight, I was wondering –"

"No."

Burned, Jinx whined, "Aw come _ON!_ How the hell do you expect to maintain the façade of a star-struck average girl when you're not even on the social scene!"

"James isn't either, get on his case."

"He's a _different_ case; everyone already knows about him, it's _you_ the public wants! You're, like, _IT!_"

"Can I not be it?" Raven sneered and Jinx huffed in defeat then plopped back down on he couch and pouted, Raven rolled her eyes, "Look, I just came here to ask you where X is, I hardly ever see him anymore and it's bugging me."

Jinx arched a brow and leaned on the back of the couch, "Seriously? I kind a figured you'd be happy he's out of your hair."

"I am, but when you don't see him around his own house for four days straight something's not right."

"Aw, how cute, you're concerned for him."

Raven scowled and held up a hand indicating how close Jinx was to pushing her over the edge, it was less then a pinch, "This close Jinx, _this_ close."

The pink sorceress held up her hands in defense and shrugged, "I dunno, he's probably in his study, that's where he's usually at when there's nothing for him to do."

"His study? The room that's always locked?"

"Yep."

"The room that you have the master key set to."

"Yep."

"Jinx …"

"Ask nicely and I'll give it to you."

"From the beginning you said you'd give me the key when I asked for it, I'm asking for it now."

"You're not asking, you're demanding for it. Ask me nicely, go ahead."

"…"

"Come on, I know you have a nice bone in your body _some_where, otherwise you wouldn't be able to put up with X for so long."

"Or you for that matter …" Raven muttered under her breath.

Jinx snorted, "Fine, you're not getting the key."

"Jinx I am not playing here! Give me the damn key!"

"You want to see him so bad then just knock on the damn door! I don't even know why you're being so covert around him when it's clear you have him eating out of the palm of your hand and don't try to tell me you don't know, you _know._"

Raven huffed and shook her head, "Honestly, Jinx, half the things you say to me don't make any sense, so I'm going now to find out if the door is really locked, if it's not, then good for me, if it is, I'm coming back down here and I'm not going back up without that key."

"Whatever."

With that, Raven left silently while Jinx searched for the remote Raven took and started channel surfing. Tru, soon enough, joined her while eating her third slice of pizza; the cinnamon eyed girl sat down next to Jinx and asked, "So, you want some pizza?"

Jinx shrugged and continued to flip.

Raven, however, had levitated herself to the fourth floor of the Villa, where X's study-room was supposed to be, and unlike his master-bedroom, this room only had one door. She landed at the stop of the stairs and stood staring at the door for a moment, not contemplating if whether or not she should knock, but contemplating whether or not she should go in.

The door was cracked open.

Raven took a step, but paused and swayed her head from side to side looking for X, perhaps, maybe he would come back … or perhaps maybe he was already in the room. Either which she knew she wouldn't get an answer by just standing there, or she could, but why waste the effort? Swiftly, she crossed the space from the stairs to the door and at first, just to be polite, she knocked on it to announce her arrival. Being a very privet person herself she knew never to violate the sanctity of a person's sanctuary, then she pushed the door open.

If she were human, she would already be having trouble even seeing into the room … it was pitch black. Although, she could, however, see that at the far side of the room was a wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor window plane. It over looked the entire city's coast including Titan Tower's bright light and through that light she could make out the room, but she'd make it out better if she could just find that darn light-switch. She stepped into the room and looked on the walls around the door, even searched for a lamp, or light fixtures on the ceiling, but there was nothing.

She bit down on her lower lip and stepped further into the room, utilizing her sensitive demonic senses she was able to see through the darkness with much ease. She left the door open as she stood in the center of a room that she noticed was devoid of all furniture. Not a single rug, desk, chair, couch, or bed in sight … only two selves that were on the walls on either side of her and all of them were filled with books and trinkets, but that was it.

The only other indication that he lived in an electronic-era was a computer set sitting on the floor near the curtained windows … full set mouse, keyboard, and 19in widescreen monitor with the plugs built into the ground. The low hum of the computer told Raven it was on, the screen probably just blacked out, but other then that, the room was still … quiet … empty … and void of all things human. It shot a chill down her spine when her empathetic powers kicked in and she could suddenly feel a vortex of loneliness and isolation creeping in.

She could feel it eating her up … the exhaustion of paranoia … the wish to sleep peacefully and soundly without insomnia taking over every waking night of his godforsaken existence. The anger he built up for the world for it's insensitivity to a kid forced to take care of his baby sister, and the equal insensitivity he gained when he began to fight back. Sad, really, and Raven knew if she wanted to she could stand still, close her eyes and read into every detail of his life just by sitting in this room … his one true sanctuary.

It really did have his entire essence of being imprinted within its walls.

Raven gulped, it was all so personal, she shouldn't be here, and in all factuality she didn't have to, X wasn't there so that meant he had to be somewhere else in the house. She stepped out of the room and felt the air around her suddenly become lighter, she took a deep breath and sighed heavily, then looked around the fourth floor and frowned, _He _was _in this room … so where is he now …_ that's when she spotted the dual doors across from the study room.

It wasn't cracked open, but she discovered it was unlocked when she crossed the distance and opened the doors quietly and peaked into the large empty room void of all furnishing, _Okay … noticing a pattern here … _she thought dryly as she stepped in and closed the door behind her. The lights were on in the huge spacious room and right off the top of her head, the moment she noticed the weights on the far right wall she knew it must have been X's training room.

She figured herself right when she spotted the thief himself walking off what appeared to have been a vigorous training session. His gray wife-beater was dark in color due to the sweat that drenched it and stuck to his flesh, even the tips of his light-brown hair had droplets of sweat on them. Raven gulped, her more primal instincts picking up on his scent and setting off alarms in the back of her head, the alarms that told her there was a male worth taking a second look at within the room.

Her demon purred, _Maybe he isn't your typical human …_

Raven gritted her teeth as she slowly walked up to him, silently – predatorily – his back to her, unaware of her presences, _He's exceptional, but not in the way you think._

_Oh, you never know until you put'im to the test … how high is his pain tolerance anyway? You know?_

_Shut. Up. We are not going down that road._

_Suuurrrreee … _the demon within laughed as a blush came to her cheeks when the thief finally took notice of her standing within ten feet of him just staring, he stared back with an arched brow, then darted his eyes from side to side and glared suspiciously, "I thought that door was locked."

She couldn't help to notice the dark karma ring around his neck was missing, she shrugged it to the back for her mind as she replied dryly, "You thought wrong."

He blinked, then scoffed and dismissed his suspicions to ask, "Whatever, what do you want?"

"Nothing," she responded quickly, almost too quickly for even her tastes as she glanced off to the side and noticed a towel on the ground. She bent to pick it up feeling his eyes following her every move, and having empathetic powers meant she could feel the atmosphere swirling and taking on a very different, very sensual air. Subtly, she gulped as she handed the towel to him; he thanked her as he wiped his face with it.

Raven chewed on her lower lip and placed her hands to her thighs and traced them up to her hips, she had no idea what to do with them actually since she didn't have pockets and she didn't want to fidget. So she sucked in a deep breath and tried to relax as she added offhandedly, "Haven't seen you around the house for a while, thought you might have skipped out."

"Skip out," he repeated, his gorgeous green eyes twinkled in amusement as he chuckled, "and miss out on the fun of being witness to my own demise? I don't think so, I wanna see this."

Raven narrowed her eyes ad crossed her arms over her chest, "Ever consider the things you find amusing aren't beneficial to your health?"

He grinned and shrugged, "Life as we know it Princess bears us no favors, so I take whatever pleasures I can get and make the most of it …"

His eyes trailed from her face to the rest of her body and Raven suddenly became very aware of the fact she wasn't wearing much besides her bottom dark blue trackies and white tang-top. She felt she might as well have stepped up to him naked with the way his eyes could make her feel so exposed, her demon giggled, _Tell me again what road we're not going down?_

_Stop talking._

Raven propped a hand on her hip, the motion snapped X's eyes back up to the mordant expression on hr cute face, "See anything you like?"

His grin turned impish, "Actually, I find the question should be: Do I see anything I _don't_ like and there is only one thing."

"…" Raven knew she was digging her own grave when she gestured for him to elaborate, "… And that is …?"

He replied with a simple answer to what he considered to be a simple question, "You're standing."

It took a minute for it to register and make sense in her head, but by the time she got it he had closed the gape between them and swept the floor from under her. She hit the ground on her back and automatically scrambled to get back up, but like a cat finding great interest in its newest play-toy, he pounced on her and held her down, but didn't secure her. For about two seconds he was on her, and then she flipped him off and sent him flying halfway across the room; however he didn't hit the ground with the satisfactory thud she wanted to hear.

No, he corrected himself in mid-flight and dropped to the ground on his feet; nimbly he flipped back and took up his stance the same as Raven when she rolled herself on her feet. She was crouched with one palm hand held out in front of her and the other balled into a fist cocked back, both glowing an angry black and ready for anything. She scowled, "If you wanted a beating all you had to do was ask."

He chuckled and the sound echoed throughout the empty room, engulfed her, and embraced her, it sent chills down her spine and made goose-bumps crawl over her arms when he said, "Then where would the fun be in that? You always threaten me with bodily harm … now lets see you live up to those threats … unless they're broken promises."

Raven broke stance and propped a hand on her hip again, "This is your idea of _'fun'_ sparring?"

"What's the matter? I'm sure you and your team do it all the time."

"…" she sneered and maintained her cold persona, "Not exactly, our skills of expertise vary too much."

He arched a curious brow, "So … because Robin only knows martial arts and has no powers he can't fight against you or Starfire, but you and Starfire can battle it out because you have similar powers? Am I right in thinking that?"

"No, and stop guessing, because I'll never tell the secret of our training sessions."

"Ooo, then this should be fun if you don't know how to verse someone on strict hand-to-hand, who knows; maybe I could teach you a thing or two."

Raven arched a brow then scoffed and decided in defeat that _someone_ had to knock the air out of his inflated ego, might as well be her. "Fine, if you insist."

"Good, no powers, no weapons, three rounds, got it?"

"Mm-hmm."

She allowed her exterior to relax as she walked to him at the center of the massive room, the circled one another for a moment, trying to find some common start ground and once they found their comfort zones, she smoothed back her hair. Her intense gaze fixed solely on him as if waiting to be impressed. X knew he'll impress her, just because he wanted them to go power and weaponless doesn't mean he'll go easy on her.

She was in for a rude awakening, "Ready to go princess?"

She took her stance, pulling her hair to rest on her shoulder, he smirked, _Well she got the form down I'll give her that … let's see if she can dance, _he didn't give her much warning. Only a five second grace period then he rushed her hard and fast, she never flinched, even when a fist flew at her face. She shot her left arm up to block it, clenched his wrist and twisted his arm. He cried out in more shock than pain as she spun around and with her left heel, nailed his chest and slammed him to the ground. She even locked her foot on his chest, and applied pressure to keep him in place, she stared down at him with an almost bored expression as she shrugged, "I think that's a point for me … finished?"

With wide amber eyes he blinked rapidly up at her as she removed herself and sauntered from him to her comfort zone her hips swayed hypnotically from side to side. It may have been a nice view to him, but as he sat up he narrowed his eyes suspiciously and pouted, "No fair … that's entrapment, you never told me you knew how to fight."

Raven took up her stance while she flipped her hair back over her shoulder, "You never asked."

He jumped to his feet and smirked, "Alright … this is good, I like this a lot better."

"Boys," She scoffed and rolled her eyes, she waited for him to assume the position (not _that _position), but once he did she didn't wait for him to come at her, she made the first move, tearing a page right out of Robin's manual she jumped and drop-kicked him. He jumped back, and watched her small body flex as it crouched low to the ground then like a cat she flexed and like a spring she sprang up to connect her foot to his chin. He, in turn, dropped down and swiped the floor from under her; she dropped on her back with a heavy _thud_, "_Ooof!"_

He then stood over her his fist cocked back, he brought it down with the force of the rest of his body, Raven saw it coming and rolled to safety just as his fist hit the wooden ground where her head use to be. She quickly scrambled back on her feet and stayed crouched as he ran up to her, she threw herself into a flip-kick which he leaned back to avoid. However, the moment she dropped down he snap-kicked her right in the jaw, she cried out as she flew back and skidded across the training room. X chuckled as he slowly made his way up to her, knowing that she was probably seeing stars as she swayed back on her feet, "You're not putting up much of a challenge here Princess."

She growled as she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, she looked at it surprised she didn't see blood, but otherwise shook it off and scowled. Her provoked demon within snarled and lunged at him with a punch, he grabbed her wrist, twisted it mercilessly, spun her around, kicked the back of her knee and dropped her to the ground, police style, face down. With his knee on her back, she groaned in discomfort and growled when he whispered in her ear purposefully blowing on it, "The cuffs are still in my room, I can run and get it if you'd like that."

"Get off me," she squirmed and he slowly released her, but grinned sneakily and grabbed a hand full of her firm ass and gave it a good squeezed. She gasped, her eyes widened and on immediate instinct she kicked back at him nearly nailing him in the family-jewels, but he dodged it and laughed as he held up his hands in mock defense.

"Sorry, it was calling my name, besides," He said with a dark snigger as he poked his tongue out teasingly, "admit it, you liked it."

"…" she didn't respond while hiding a rising red blush on her cheeks as she got up and dusted herself off, she rubbed her wrists to loosen the tension and glared at his cocky smirk.

He nodded at her, "You ready for another round?"

Her pride was hurting.

Not to mention she was dreadfully embarrassed, and pissed off at his free grope.

She had accepted the challenge in an attempt to bring him down a couple of notches, now it felt as if she was helping to boost his ego, she sneered, "Are you?"

He winked, "I can go all night."

And he wasn't kidding.

Even with her demon in semi-control of her physical being, she found Red X, a thief – and human no less – to be overwhelming. He not only knew more moves than she did, but he also had stealth, stamina, speed, and finesse going for him. Lord only knew how long they've been going at it, but Raven estimated by the time their tenth round rolled in, it was probably close to 11 pm.

Her stamina was fading and her demon was getting desperate, X had won 4-5 matches out of 9 and they were on their tenth round. She may not show it, but next to Robin she _hated_ to lose matches … forget family board-games, and card-games; she can handle losing those battles. It was one-on-ones that made her feel as if she had to prove herself. She'd be damned if she lost to X. He was a criminal, if he knew he could overpower her, she'll be considered the weakest link on the Teen Titans. Bad enough he was already under her skin, did he really have to be a far better skilled fighter than she was?

Where was the justice in that?

"_Argh!"_ she cried when his right foot connected to her temple and knocked the stars into her vision quit literally as she spun to the ground. Dazed, she quickly recovered when she spotted his heel coming down on her; she rolled back on her feet, to avoid it. This was their last round, if she won she'd even it out, if he won then he won and her pride would not like that.

He was breathing hard, but wasn't done, not yet; he still hadn't taken her out.

So without hesitating he came at her running full tilt Raven braced for him as he flew at her with a triple flip-kick that she found to be difficult to avoid especially when he ended in a front flip axe-kick to bring her down. He nearly got her too, but she blocked it and ended up falling down to the ground with him, they started at one another for a moment breathing hard with her hands still around his ankle. He looked down at it, then back up at her and cringed when she sneered and picked him up.

She flipped him back and threw him off balance, and as he stumbled to find his footing, she nailed him with a kick to his gut, but it end there. The kick winded him, but her demon gave her the strength to lift him up off the ground, over her head and then dropped him back to the ground with her heel to his chest. This, of course, went as fast as a one second interval that left him gasping for air. She panted, her fangs lengthened and so did her claws as she fisted her hands. _Victory, _her demon chuckled as her eyes flashed red and she applied pressure, _Kill him._

_No!_

_Fool … he will not spare you the same honor …_

She bared her fangs, but got control of her demon and growled, "Yield."

He was wheezing, but catching his breath he gritted his teeth and stared up at her in thought and annoyance, _Shit … did I really just get ass kicked?_ He scoffed and lolled his head back and nodded his head in tired defeat, Raven sucked in a relieved breath and slowly removed her foot from his chest, she then held out her hand to help him up, "Don't forget, you asked for this."

"…" he looked at her hand and smirked in amusement, she was one good fighter, but naïve as all hell. This was _his_ playground, and he'll be damned to be shown-up by some new kid on his block. He slid his hand into hers harmlessly, but when she tightened her grasp around his, he chuckled, "Forget who I am already?"

She frowned and before she knew it he had her pinned with her arms high over her head, and shamelessly pressed against her body to lock her in place, "I'm not a very nice guy, and I like to be on top."

Raven sneered, "Or so I've noticed, now get off, you're heavy."

Of course he was heavy; he didn't want her getting up anytime soon, oh no, not when he finally had her all alone in a room he knew no one would dare intrude. So instead he made her realize the seriousness of her current position as he hovered over her and kissed her lightly at first on her lips and pulled away their lips a hairs width away, she gulped visibly and he grinned something suggestive, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Uh … no …" Damn! Why did her voice have to crack now?

"Liar."

She shivered, and she tried to wiggle free from him, but he was still settled on top of her and with every move she made against him, furthermore confirmed the fact that X and her were _far _from little kids just roughhousing. She could feel him, all of him, and when he crushed his lips against hers in a heat kiss her eyes damn near rolled to the back of her skull.

A moan escaped her throat when his tongue traced her fangs, he shifted his weight and with his knee he separated her thighs and rested in between them, her back then arched up against him as he rubbed the bulge in his pants against her. Her hips moved with his instinctively and she couldn't lie, it felt so good, but apart of her found it embarrassing as well that she'd react so quickly to his touch. He pushed down on her again and again she moved with him, but she jerked herself away from his kiss so she could grit her fangs together and breathlessly pleaded with him, "Please stop …"

She pleaded more so for herself then for him.

One of his hands pulled away from hers above her head and he pushed her tang-top up, already knowing she wasn't wearing a bra under it fondled one of her breasts. She bit down on her lower lip to stifle a stubborn groan that still managed to escape with a shaky sigh. He smirked and trailed kisses down the side of her face to her neck, then whispered in her ear, his hot breath heating up her already molting hot flesh, "You don't really want me to stop do you, cuz it looks to me like you want it … you want it bad."

_Mmm, we're speeding down that road now …_ her demon purred in her head and laughed when he finally released her hands from above her head to trail it down the side of her body and up her inner-thigh. She quickly grabbed his wrist to stop him, even reached for his other hand and pulled it from her chest. Her cheeks tinting a shade darker than before, while her eyes revealed the inner-struggle to let him have his way or be the rational one and stop it all together. It was hard, she could barely think straight with her demon purring in her ear and glazing her eyes over while her head spun with millions upon trillions of ideas. Most of them were images of what X envisioned of her and him together, not only that but his desires it mingled with hers and God did she want the same thing he did oh-so badly.

She felt like she'd loose her mind if she didn't have him right _now._

However she couldn't risk hurting him, and she knew she could.

X propped himself up to give her some space. She breathed a bit easier, but bit down hard on her lower lip, forgetting her fangs had grown out she drew blood and winced and prayed X didn't catch it. He didn't, but he kissed her to help her relax, and he tasted the blood he licked it up what had trickled from her fangs. She sighed reluctantly, but kissed him back briefly before pulling away again and turning her head from her. With her breath still slightly haggard and trembling, she stayed laying flat on the ground her eyes closed tightly shut.

She grinded her teeth and in a small voice, she squeaked, "I'm sorry …"

Confusion replaced patience, with hidden frustration and he arched a questioning brow, "Huh? Sorry? For what?"

"Complicating things … it shouldn't have gotten this far …"

He blinked, then rolled his eyes, _There she goes again … _"Hey, stupid, it's not your entire fault, the world ain't gonna end because you wanted something that's got nothing to do with your job. If you ask me, this could be just what the doctor ordered."

"…" she didn't say anything, she was still calming down, coming back to her senses, but she still couldn't trust herself to look at him, every time she does her image falls apart entirely and she looses her place. How he does it to her was unfathomable, and to be honest she didn't want to know, all she wanted to do was lay still and unmoving for the rest of her life for fear of what her every move would bring her.

However, he wouldn't have it, he cupped her chin and turned her head to face him, didn't mean her eyes couldn't remain staring off into the distance. So he kissed her softly to grab her attention, but she still wouldn't respond, so he growled, "You keep this up and I'll tie your ass to the ground and make sure you never get back up."

She looked at him, but with a cold hearted glare that dared him to fulfill that threat, he just grinned, "Ah, there she is, still alive I see."

"Shut up."

"That's my girl," he chuckled and sat up, but scooped her up in his arms and sat her in his lap, she frowned and still refused to look him straight in the eye even as he whispered in her ear his hot breath on her flesh sent chills down her spine. She hated to admit it, but that never gets old, "Do you know how damn cute you look when you pout?"

She sneered and hissed, "Then I must be gorgeous when I'm pissed."

He just laughed and buried his face into her hair as he held her close; she sucked in a deep breath, held it for three seconds then slowly exhaled, feeling her mind finally slow to a reasonable speed. She relaxed a bit, but her comfort was short lived. For a pain in the back of her head hit her so hard she gasped and threw herself to the ground holding her head, _"AAAHHH!!"_

She could feel X's panic mixing in with a swirl of emotions overwhelming her, her head throbbed and no matter what she did she couldn't escape the images.

Red paint … no, blood, it dripped from someone's hand to the ground and pooled at her feet, it was all her fault, all her fault, because she wasn't strong enough to stop it she destroyed her whole family! It was all her fault! Tears swelled up at the corner of her eyes and streamed down the sides of her face as she winced and cried out holding her chest, her heart, it was breaking, but her head was hurting. X picked her up and cupped her face, she could barely hear him over the ringing in her ears of millions of voices overlapping one another screaming, crying, and muting him out.

"Raven! Raven, come on! Talk to me! _Raven!"_

Then … just like that … it was all gone.

Silence, but she was left as a trembling wreck, her violet eyes wide with fear, worry and paranoia, _Get a hold of yourself, _her demon growled, _It's just a dream … you know what to do …_

"Yes …" she whispered out-loud, croaked it really, in a tiny barely audible voice.

X glared at her in confusion, just about as freaked out as she was and barely holding onto his sanity. He hated not knowing what to do, just hated feeling so damn helpless when matters such as _'magic'_ was concerned, he was more of a see-it-touch-it-it's-real kind of guy. So he shook her to make sure she was with him in reality, "Yes? Yes what?"

She blinked … and gulped, still trembling she rubbed her eyes from the tears as she wrenched herself out of X's grasp to stare at the ground, "It's Tru … she's having another nightmare …"

"Tru?" His eyes narrowed suspiciously, "A nightmare? It's barely even …" he trailed as he finally looked at the clock placed above the only door leading in and out of the training room and he frowned when he realized it was late, "… ah … never mind, but just a nightmare?"

She nodded her head, "Yes … check on her … I'm fine …"

"…" he wasn't buying it, was it really just that? Were his sister's nightmare's _that_ harsh? He's never seen Raven when she reacted to his sister's nightmares so he didn't know enough to accuse Raven of lying, but damn did she look so unconvincing.

Even when she glared at him and urged him, "Go, she needs you."

X didn't want to give in, there was some part of this equation he was missing, but he shook his head and asked again to be sure, "You going to be alright?"

She rolled her eyes, "X, just go."

He helped her up and let her go reluctantly, but they both headed for the door with Raven smoothing back her hair, X paused at the door and turned back to face her, "Just stay here and wait till I get back alright? I won't be long."

"…" Raven gulped and nodded with an exasperated huff, "Fine, whatever, I'll be here."

"…" with that, reluctantly he left and Raven felt like breaking down, never in her life had she felt anything more powerful than what she had experience. It was a _far_ cry from some remnant of some child's nightmare, this was different this was _His _warning. Her knees were shaking so bad she nearly couldn't hold herself up, she gritted her teeth and balled her hands into fists trying to find the strength to own up to her responsibility to protect and ensure the safety of humanity's future.

So she found the courage in her demon, for the second time she let it take over and it snarled, "With your quivering, you make us look bad."

_Go grab the Chain; it's in our room in the left nightstand drawer, and hurry up._

"If we're going to present ourselves, we might as well dress nice for the Lord of Darkness, you know, credit for presentation." She grinned devilishly as she sauntered out the door and quietly floated across the floors down the empty halls to her room, "Now … what do you wear to your execution? Usually it's an orange jumpsuit, but in our case we can make an exception."

_We're going to die anyway, I don't think it matters._

_True, true …_

--

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, u ppl know as much DC owns them, sadness … true sadness … **

**A/N: Well, well … we be chuggin' right along then for life as we know it moves on without us … poor Raven, poor, poor Raven … never knew what hit her, should have expected it though. After all, you don't invade someone else's sanctuary and not pay a fee, she should know this. Oh well, at least she learned the **_**hard**_** way … heh, catch you cats in the next chapter.**

**L8er daez**


	24. Death Wish

**Famous for Being Famous**

**Death Wish**

X swung around the rail of the steps and dropped to the second floor, he could hear the TV on in the living-room with Jinx still on the phone with someone else asking for Rae to be apart of their show. It didn't take him long to reach his sister's room, the lights were off and when he tried the door knob, he found it was locked. He rolled his eyes and dug into his pocket for his lock-pick and in no time at all the door _clicked_ and opened. Quietly, silently, he pushed the door open and peeked into the room, "Tru … you awake?"

The bed came into view first and he saw the sheets rumpled and undone, but no body in it, he frowned and flicked the light on, "Tru?"

No one was in the room; a very cold chill went down his spine and with the goings-on he started to assume the worst, until someone sneak up from behind him, "What are you doing in my room?"

He quit literally jumped when his sister's voice crept up from behind him, he stepped back into the room and stared down at her narrowed cinnamon-red eyes. Her long light brown hair pulled up in a messy ponytail, and dressed in her PJ complete with pink bunny slippers, X never felt so relived to have anyone sneak up on him. Least of all his baby-sister, hell, it was just proof she was surrounded by bad-influences, but besides that X sucked in a deep breath and heavily exhaled, "Jesus Tru, I didn't hear you coming."

"Space cadet," Tru snorted and stepped by him to get into her room, "I don't know how you couldn't have heard me, I was just in the bathroom."

That's when he noticed she was holding her tome and he arched a brow, "With your magic-book?"

She scowled and glared at him, "It's a _tome_, not a _magic-book_, get it right."

"Don't care," X dismissed it and followed her to her bed, he sat at the edge as she slipped in under the sheets the book now resting on her nightstand, sitting up she eyed her brother suspiciously.

"What do you want?"

He stared at her a moment, then huffed and shrugged, "Thought you were having a nightmare."

Tru blinked then tilted her head in confusion, "A nightmare …? I haven't had one of those since Raven's been teaching me how to focus and center myself which was … what …three days ago? Yeah. I'm good."

"Wait, so you're good?"

"Yeah," Tru nodded, then leaned forward and titled her head to the other side in curiosity, "why would you think I had a nightmare? If anything you look like you just came from a work out, and knowing you my well being would have been far from your mind."

X shot her a dry look, "Anyway … Raven was with me, she said she sensed you were in trouble."

"Raven? Really?" Tru looked to her sheets and shrugged, "Well I don't know what to tell you, but … I'm good … I was just getting ready to go to bed since Jinx picked her phone back up and wouldn't let me change the channel."

"… Right …" her brother was suddenly a thousand miles away as he stood up and stared at the ground in thought.

Tru asked in concern, "Is everything alright?"

"Dunno …" he shrugged and bent over to grab her sheets and tuck her in, Tru laid back and let him, she watched his face carefully and observed the fact that the gears in his head was turning, "Just go to sleep."

"…" she watched walk off robotically and shut her lights off then close her door, propped up on her elbows she frowned and glanced at her book. She couldn't shake the feeling of impatience suddenly burning in her gut; she grabbed her book and fell back against her pillow. Clutching it tightly she closed her eyes and curled up into a tight ball and tried – for once – to listen to her brother and just go to sleep.

But it was easier said then done.

While her brother trekked back up the stairs scratching the back of his head in irritation, something just wasn't right; he then flew up the stairs two steps at a time and opened the door, "Rav … en …?"

She wasn't there, he scanned the entire room with nowhere to hide and he scowled, "Shit!"

He then flew down the stairs back to the second floor and darted into Raven and Jinx's hall, Jinx at the same time was coming up the stairs and spotted him, "X! Wait! I gotta tell you something."

"It can wait!" He shouted back as he grabbed Raven's door knob, it wasn't locked and he swung it open, "Raven?!"

X barraged into the room and literally went searching for her in the closet and under the bed. He then opened her window and stepped out into the balcony, at that moment Jinx appeared and cringed, "Shit, uh, X, do you really think you should be going through her room? X!"

The thief climbed back in and shut the window with a dark look on his face, "Goddamn it! She ran for it."

Jinx arched a lost brow, "Huh? Are we role-playing here? Are you supposed to be Raven?"

He looked at her, "Jinx, we got a problem."

"I'll say," she sneered, "you're not making any sense, and by the way, I was on the phone with Theo and she said she needed to talk to you."

He shook his head and held up his hand to stop her, "Shut up, I don't wanna hear about Theo alright, she can handle her own damn self without me, Raven on the other hand is gone."

"What? Lucifer kidnapped her ass too?"

"No … I don't know! I don't think so … I think she ran off."

"…" Jinx frowned, that didn't sound like Raven to just up and leave … unless she had a good reason for it, and usually her good reasons meant life-or-death issues she didn't want anyone she cared about to get involved with. That was Raven, she was selfless like that, stupid, but selfless and Jinx hated for that to be the case, but the more she stood there staring at X's frustrated face, the more convinced she was about it. After all, it didn't take a rocket-scientist to notice X meant more to her then she herself will ever know and in knowing Raven, she'll do anything to keep him safe.

Jinx gulped and reached for the T-com Robin had given her; X saw it and narrowed his amber eyes, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Calling Robin, if anyone'll know where she is, it'll be him."

"… No," he reached out and snatched the communicator from her hand.

She gasped, "Hey! What the hell! You wanna find her don't you?"

"And we can do so without the Titans' help. If I'm right to assume so, Cyborg must have implanted a bio-chip into each and every Titan incase they were to lose their communicators," he snorted, "no doubt under boy-wonder's paranoid command."

Jinx scoffed, "Right, but only Robin and Cyborg have the tech to read that, these are generic communicators, they can't do more then hook-up with other T-coms," X looked at her dryly, she rolled her eyes, "okay, so assuming a _'badass-hacker' _like you can break through to read such a map, you'll need Raven's specific code, otherwise you'll just be catching the entire Titan Teams across the world."

"Her code huh, easy solution," X jumped on Raven's bed and rolled over to the other side to her left nightstand and pulled out the drawer and he smirked as he pulled out the demoness's forgotten T-com. Jinx smacked her forehead and shook her head as X snickered, "Oh, tell me again who's the badass-hacker?"

"What the hell does that prove?" Jinx sneered.

"It means, whatever her code is to this thing, will be the exact same as her chip … it would be too complicated to give each Titan separate codes for everything." He shrugged and began to play with each communicator.

Jinx sat beside him and watched him work, "You know … Gizmo already tried the exact same shit you're pulling, and Cyborg locked him out and changed stations faster then your little eyes could blink."

X paused to glare at Jinx, "Do I _look_ like Gizmo to you?"

She shrugged, "He _is_ a tech-genius."

"He's a bawled-headed geek that looks like he can pass for a rodent if you give him some fur. As a matter of fact, all he's missing are the plastic round frames, and a higher pitched-voice that sounds like he sucked down helium and he could pass for the Chipmunk's step-brother." X couldn't help to snicker and Jinx nudged him with a scolding glare in her pink eyes.

"You know, I'm detecting that you were probably the cool-kid who skipped out of class with the me-against-the-world complex and stepped on the nerd's necks just for kicks."

"No, actually I was the loner with the don't-give-a-shit complex, still am … got her!" Jinx leaned over to see the map of the city pop up with a blinking red-dot on it and moving fast … too fast to be on foot.

Jinx blinked, "Whoa … she's already on the southeast strip, headed for the cliffs … that's fast, she probably teleported half the way there."

"Who cares, we gotta catch her." X was already on his feet and headed for the door, Jinx followed and hated to be his rain-cloud, but she had to know.

"What about Tru? We can't just leave her …"

That stopped him dead in his tracks, out in the middle of the hall, but he turned to face her, "… You can watch her right?"

Jinx scowled, "Oh yeah, and who's got your ass covered mister hero? This isn't your field of expertise and you know it, so don't pretend like you don't need at the very least _my_ help."

"For what?" Both X and Jinx stilled, X spun around and for the second time that night his sister had snuck up on him, clutching her book, wide-awake her eyes darting back and forth between her brother and Jinx.

Her brother's shoulder's sagged, "Damn it Tru, I told you to go to sleep."

She sneered, "Yeah, it's real easy to get some sleep with you running up and down the stairs and making all that noise."

"Not the time Tru."

"I don't care, so what do you need Jinx's help on?" That's when her eyes fell on the T-com in her brother's hand that blinked with the rapid moving red-dot. X quickly moved it from her view, but it was too late, she looked up at him and frowned in concern, "Is Raven in trouble?"

"…" X gulped and shook his head there was no use lying to her, his sister was his personal lie-detector, she could tell if it was the truth or not just by staring him down and boy did she have a mean stare. It rivaled Raven's, so he shrugged, "I don't know … but she's gone and I have to find her."

"Does _He_ have her …"

X winced, Gods did he hate it when she gave him that look of helplessness, it killed him, "Ah … I don't … I really don't know Tru, that's why I got to find her."

"Can I come?"

"No."

"Please, I won't get in the way, I promise I –!"

"No."

"Ryan, please, she might need my help and she's taught me some –!"

"I said: _No!"_ She flinched at the deep tone in his voice when he shouted his final decision, her brother hardly – if ever – shouts at her, but when he does he means business and she usually obeys him. Especially with that mean look on his face, "I mean it Tru, you're not going anywhere away from this house, you got that?"

"…"

"I asked you question."

Jinx frowned, "X, come on, you don't have to –"

Tru squeaked her answer with her head bowed as she stared at the ground with a defiant glare, "I got it …"

"Good," X looked at Jinx, "Jinx, you have to stay with her, if not to watch her, then at least make sure she doesn't go anywhere to get herself killed."

"… Fine, just be careful alright."

"Yeah." He sighed heavily and walked passed Tru, he put a hand on her head as an endearing gesture and it made her eyes burn and her lower lip quiver. She held her book to her chest and tried to keep from crying; Jinx knelt in front of her and tried to sooth her with empty words of comfort that she otherwise never heard. All she could think about was her brother being such a stupid-head and treating her like she was some rare-jewel that could never touch the dirty ground. While Raven, her mentor was out there somewhere, in trouble, and she could do nothing to help, Tru gritted her teeth and closed her eyes to hold back her tears of frustration and helplessness.

--

His cool chocolate eyes gazed out the ceiling-to-floor-wall-to-wall window that overlooked the entire city, with the entire estate perched on a hill top the view was breathtaking. However, to a being that's lived since the dawn of time, he could care less, with a glass of wine in his right hand he smoothed back his jet-black hair with his left and sneered when he heard the approach of a human coming. Her thousand-dollar heels clicked on the black and white marbled floor, and with every click she grew closer to him in no hurry whatsoever. Through the reflection of the glass window he saw her place a hand on her slender hip as an impatient gesture, "You're being awfully calm about all this."

He smirked and brought the glass to his lips, but didn't drink it, only inhaled it as he sloshed the wine within the glass. Such a bittersweet smell that reminded him of centuries pass when times were a lot simpler back then. When the Devil could do his bidding in plain sight because the naivety of human-kind believed all men have honor when only a few good ones do. Even the priests were easy to convert, as long as the price was right. With that thought in mind he took a sip of the bittersweet wine, then sighed, "My dear when you've lived for as long as I have … you come to understand that it doesn't matter whether one throws a fit or says not a word. Time will do as Time does, and only Time will tell once the hour has passed and mind you, your hour has yet to come."

"If looked on with that perspective, then that means your time is up if I wait any longer."

He chuckled, "Patience is a virtue."

"Not where I'm standing, now listen up, there's a dragon that I've been seeing about, he's been asking too many questions about the dead Antiquity Director of the Historical Museum on the corner of Flint and 45th Avenue."

Curious, his chocolate eyes glanced over his shoulder, "Now why would that be a concern to you?"

"He found out Detective Daevon is hardly a detective at all and Jenna was going to the Titans anyway to warn them of your … _coming."_

He arched a brow, sloshed his drink, then snickered, "Intriguing … can't even properly frame an innocent thief for a crime he never committed. Find the irony in that."

"The humor in this eludes me, fix the problem or return to Hell."

The smirk on his lips slowly fell from his face as he closed his eyes, bowed his head, the glass in his hand shattered, but none of the pieces touched the ground. The wine swirled in mid-air and turned itself into water; he then moved his hand and the water-ball splashed on the cream-white Peruvian carpet. The pieces of the glass, however, hovered around his head as he turned to face the arrogant woman. His voice, so smooth and his tone so calm and bored, as if he were discussing how lame the weather was, he sneered and hissed under her breath as he spoke, "Your threats are no more amusing then they are serious my dear …"

Like bullets the tiny glass fragments shot through the air and nearly came in contact with the startled young woman who gasped and nearly fell back when the glass-pieces impacted an invisible wall made visible and flashed white to dispel the fragments. Lucifer dusted off his dress jacket as he waited for the woman no important to him then the dust on said jacket to recover from shock. It, thankfully, didn't take her long as she stared at him, mouth agape and speechless.

He looked at her and smiled sweetly, "Don't presume that because you released me from my prison I owe you any favors."

He held his hand out to her for her to take as a gesture of apology.

She gulped, her heart raced a mile a minute and doubt started to flood her mind, she started at the hand with the gold ring then back up into his loving brown eyes and she couldn't resist him. She reached out and took his hand; he pulled effortlessly and lured her closer to kiss the back of her hand. His eyes never once left hers and his lips sent a dangerous chill down her spine, her skin grew goose-bumps as he stood up straight, let her hand go and walked around her, "Consider the dragon-issue dealt with."

She turned to watch him leave not at all trusting him without her supervision, but with the lights off and nothing to illuminate the spacious-stylish living-room, he blended with the shadows. Shadows that suddenly took on life of their own and never before had she felt so uneasy, like many, many eyes locked on her, watching her with an intensity that felt so heavy. She suddenly found it hard to breath, paranoia crept down her spine and she spun around when she thought she felt someone touch her arm, then she jumped when she thought she saw something crawling in the night.

Whispers.

Was there someone else in the room?

What was that she was hearing?

Why were their suddenly so many voices?

Who where they?

What did they want?

They grew louder, never shouting, but growing in numbers, many of them, so many of them, baring on her, pushing her down, she brought her hands to the side of her head to silence them. Trembling she stepped back, stumbled over the coffee, table and falling to the ground; she scrambled back on her feet and threw her back against the glass-window. Her eyes wide and searching, ever searching for the voices, watching the shadows as they formed clawed hands and reached for her with an urgency that frightened her.

She shook her head from side to side and brought her hands back to the sides of her head, "Stop it … st-stop …"

The voices grew louder …

"Stop it!"

Louder still …

"I said …"

They were so many …

She gritted her teeth and then screamed, _"STOOOOP!!"_

And just like that: Silence.

The shadows became nothing more then that, shadows, harmless.

The voices, gone … all gone … but the fading sinister laugh that echoed in her ear as if He were there standing beside her. Breathing hard she sank to the ground her back still pressed against the glass as she gathered itself back up and made sense with reality. A reality she knew would become more than dull, cruel, and cold … a reality she reassure herself that would soon be hers … all she had to do was endure.

--

It was the middle of the night and since it was the nature of his beast, Malchior was up pacing the living-room of his small bare-essential apartment complex Bastian helped to get him. Since he still had to adjust to the modern world's rules and regulations, he was under Bastian's mercy, but this was the least of his concerns. With a cell phone in his hand he flipped it open once, twice, then on the third time he stopped his pacing and dialed the number he'd come to memorize like the back of his humanoid hand. He brought the phone to his ear and listened to the patient ring-tone Bastian informed him of being a good thing.

All he knew was it was working … but like the last three times he tried calling no one on the other side picked up. He snarled and nearly crushed the tiny trinket in his hand when he flipped it closed. He smoothed his hair back and glared at the ground, _She's not answering … _he thought the obvious, but only because he needed to hear himself think it.

To reassure himself that he wasn't just loosing his mind with worry and paranoia.

He grinded his fangs together and shook his head, "I'll go there myself … she needs to know …"

The urgency of the situation could not wait, he needed to speak with her, Raven that is, he needed to let her know his findings, after all she was right. Though Lucifer's chain had broken, it would take more than His magics to get himself out … someone from the surface broke him free and he had an idea of who it was. It wasn't easy finding out, but the point was he knew who preformed the summoning ritual and Raven needed to know before anything serious occurred.

Malchior tossed the cell phone to the sofa and headed for the door, he grabbed the knob, turned it, and yanked it open, but before he could even take a step out into the hall, _He_ was there. Standing with his hands behind his back and a smile on his face, "Going somewhere friend?"

Malchior got over his shock and snarled, "You."

"Me," with a flare of his aura Lucifer slammed Malchior back into his apartment and the windows within in it all blew out and showered the streets with glass. Lucifer walked in and glanced around admirably, "Ah, simple and practical … I like it."

Malchior wheezed and pressed a hand to his chest as he shakily brought himself back on his feet, his ears ringing and his instincts telling him to run and run far and fast. His crimson eyes glowed scarlet as he bared his fangs and stood on end as Lucifer's eyes traveled from his small kitchen back to him. He even tilted his head and frowned in disappointment, "You seem like a man I'd love to converse with … oh, wait, you're not a man at all are you? Never mind."

He flicked his wrist as if to dismiss the thought, but with a concentrated dose of his raw energy he directed it at Malchior and the air itself became a weapon as he felt blades slice into his flesh in random bursts. Thrown further into the apartment, this time he was pinned to the wall, bleeding with cuts that could no more kill them but annoy the hell out of him like a paper-cuts between two fingers. As it ended he dropped to the ground on his knees bleeding and gasping for air, Lucifer crossed the destroyed living-room to stand before Malchior. He comfortably crouched in front of him and grabbed a fist full of his hair and pulled the dragon's hair back so he was able to see his face, slightly scratched up and cringing in pain, "You know you're not going to live through the night … don't you …"

Malchior growled, "You can't steal souls … _ahh …_ so you can't kill me."

He chuckled and held up his free hand growing his claws as he wiggled his finger from side to side, "Correction my friend, I can't steal _mortal-human _souls, and neither can I end their lives … you … on the other hand …" he brought the clawed finger to his throat, Malchior gritted his teeth and held his breath, "Are an exception to my rules, should've kept your snout where it belongs, dragon. Out of my business."

Lucifer pulled his hand away from Malchior's neck, but cocked it back and cracked his fingers to cut the dragon's face to ribbon, but as his hand came down Malchior grabbed his wrist. Despite the protest of his aching body Malchior twisted himself around and kicked Lucifer in the chest hard enough to send him flying across the room and crashing through the kitchen into the cupboards. His head hit the counter as he dropped to the floor, Malchior took that time to get back on his feet and rush for the window as Lucifer shot up and scowled, "That was uncalled for."

He darted from the kitchen to the window Malchior was headed for, the dragon crashed through and fell from the fifth floor to the ground, Lucifer leaned out of said window to watch the idiot fall, but Malchior was far from an idiot. He forced a quick transformation – granted it hurt like a bitch – but it paid off. His wings snapped out just before he hit the ground and caught the wind; he glided two feet from the street and shot straight into the sky.

Lucifer watched him and dusted off the debris from his jacket, "Impressive … foolish … but impressive."

The Devil himself turned his back on the window and glanced around the destroyed apartment a slow smirk forming on his lips as he laughed quietly to himself, "Goodness, what was I thinking? I'm going about this all wrong …" Still laughing he crossed the rubble that use to be the living-room, but paused when he spotted Malchior's cell-phone. He blinked, and his smirk widened as he bent to pick it up and pocketed the small device as he headed out the door.

All the while Malchior pushed himself further through the pain to get as far as he could, the thought had crossed his mind to head for the Villa and warn Raven, but reason stopped him. He couldn't put her in danger, Lucifer was targeting him … he'll have to lead Him far from the city, and deal with Him then. Malchior gritted his teeth and executed a tumble as he dove back to Earth and made a sharp right straight for the nearby country side. Most of the time he was gliding to keep from wearing himself out staying at a high enough altitude to keep the wind under his wings as he felt his wounds healing, but clearly not fast enough.

_The same as every other time I come in contact with demonic forces, I never heal at my normal rate …_

_It's because their power is literally filled with poison no matter now harmless or lethal the attack is._ Malchior nearly came to a dead stop as Raven's voice echoed in his head; he hovered and looked around.

_Raven?_

_Down here Malchior, why are you bleeding?_ Malchior looked down at the nearest skyscraper and spotted her on the rooftop, Raven waving at him and signaling for him to come down. She was decked out in her Titan uniform that consisted of her leotard and royal blue cape with the hood up and over her head, her eyes shielded within the shadow.

Malchior frowned hesitantly and thought suspiciously, _Something's not right … _but dropped to her level and folded his wings over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed on her, "Raven, what the bloody hell are you doing out here I thought you were still with the thief?"

"I was," she nodded, "but as it turns out something important came up."

"… Important …" Malchior couldn't help to flinch as the cut on his side stung when he moved the wrong way, he hissed and held the gash, "… like what?"

"I'm not done with you yet."

Malchior could barely let out a gasp as black tentacles sprouted from behind the fake-sorceress and darted for him, he flipped to avoid them and opened his wings to take flight, but he was caught off guard. More shadow tendrils shot out from the darkness and ripped the thin membrane of his wings to shreds. He cried out, but was silenced when a giant black talon slammed into his chest, picked him up then slammed him to the ground, the impact cracked the concrete, but it wasn't over. The shadow seeped into his wounds and into his veins, Malchior couldn't scream even if he wanted to because the foreign invader seized his entire body, paralyzed him.

His veins turned black, his skin paled to a deadly stark white and his heart raced faster and faster till it felt like it would explode, the fake-Raven pulled down her hood and her chocolate eyes and pitch-black long hair fell over her right shoulder. She stared at him in amusement. Her lips curled into a vicious smile as she sauntered his way and knelt beside him as more of her dark-magic corrupted his body, her eyes scanned him from head to toe in twisted fascination. She even brought a hand up to her mouth and bit down on the back of her finger as if to hide that sick smile of hers.

She removed her finger and hovered over the dragon her hands on either side of his head she stared at his pain contorted expression and when he chocked a silent scream she pressed a finger to his lips and whispered, _"Shhhhhhh … _don't cry, once the poison reaches your heart it'll all be over soon, I promise it only hurts going in love."

Malchior threw his head back and arched his back as more of the poison burned through his body, she pulled off him and ran her finger from his chin over his neck, down his chest and to his rib where one of his gashes dripped dark-blood-red. She dipped her finger into the wound then pulled it back to her mouth and sucked on it, afterwards she chuckled, "Honestly, this power is not mine … it's all hers … maybe, if you had pushed her into practicing much darker magic she'd know what she's truly capable of."

He couldn't breath … he was loosing air no matter how many times he gasped and wheeze for it … his heart was still beating too fast, but he couldn't feel it pounding in his chest, he couldn't feel anything actually. He was going dreadfully numb, the world was fading, blurring, becoming a dream as his hearing began to muffle. He could barely feel the back of the fake-Raven's hand running over his cheek as she leaned back down and kissed him on his forehead. She muttered a few choice words and pulled something from her pocket, something small … and it flipped open, but he couldn't understand it.

He was fading fast, his heart beat was fleeting, his breathing was becoming nonexistent.

The Devil watched his life slowly slip away, his eyes closed, his head tipped to the side, and finally his heart stopped; she smiled sadly, "What a shame."

She stood back up as she placed the open cell-phone beside the dragon the screen reading that it was calling Bastian. She then grabbed her cape and jerked it down to fix it, but instead completely morphed her entire being back into his familiar male form, looking pressed, clean, and smooth. He sucked in a deep breath and walked away from the body of the late dragon Malchior, he inspected his nails and frowned as he paused in mid-step he smacked his lips together and tasted blood … his blood, "What on – _AAARRGH!"_

Without warning he doubled over and held his chest when he felt his heart encased in pain, he coughed and spat out a mouth full of blood to the ground, his whole body trembled as he hissed and snarled. At first utterly confused he stared at his blood and narrowed his eyes trying to figure how on Earth that happened, he then remembered Malchior had got in one good hit and he snickered, "Ah, smarter then you look, tagged me …"

He tried to straighten himself up, but ended up hunched over again at the protest of his chest, he growled, "This could prove problematic." He wiped the drip of blood off the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand he smirked and croaked a gargled chuckle as more blood boiled up at the back of his throat. Again he gathered as much as he could and spat it out while he held his chest and slowly trekked on with a bloody grin.

--

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, never did, never will sad to say the least DC owns'em**

**A/N: Ah-hah … um … yeah, that's that, I'm gonna … yeah, I'm gonna run away now, hope to see you in the next chapter though, reviews are always welcome, luv you guys for sticking by me and … yeah, I'm gonna go now …**

**L8er daez!**


	25. The Eternal Ball

**Famous for Being Famous**

**The Eternal Ball**

"Can you honestly believe the audacity of some people? The nerve of her to have us standing out here as if she's an actual Princess."

"I can hardly say my dear, tis not the way of my kind to judge, but to carry out the judgment of my Lord."

"Of course, but you must admit it's still such a travesty."

Bastian arched a brow as he took a sip of his white wine and had it pass down his throat like silk savoring every taste even the bitter aftertaste before he smiled at the young Elvin maiden he was assigned to protect for this one night. She was having a conversation with an older angel of his hierarchy that in turn nodded in agreement, now Bastian could careless about politics and gossip, but the hell with it, he was bored, "Now, now milady be mindful of what you say, for you were invited to this _'travesty'_ and as I recall you save the gossip till _after_ the celebrations."

She laughed lightheartedly and smiled so angelically it was hard to believe she was an elf at all, "I suppose you're right, but you are the last person that should chastise me for speaking ill of others."

Bastian looked at her angelic companion and the angel chuckled then shrugged innocently, "What can I say, my job is to show you the path of righteousness, it's your job to take the first step … I'm an Angel, not a Saint."

They shared laughs, Bastian only half-assed it as he took a deep breath, rolled his eyes and downed the last of his drink, lord knew he needed it because it felt as if this was going to be one helluva long night. Then, this cell phone rang, the Elvin maid looked at him with concern, but he smiled reassuringly, "I'll be right back my lady."

He turned his back on the conversation and walked away as he answered the call, "Malchior, now isn't the right time, in the middle of something …"

"…"

"Malchior …?"

"…" he heard murmuring in the background, but then stopped dead in his tracks when he heard what sounded like a cry of pain … but it was distant.

He pulled the phone away to look at it, to make sure it was the dragon's number, it was, then he placed the phone back to his ear and said, "Malchior, is everything alright? Answer me."

"…"

Still no response, Bastian pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it for a moment longer before he used the tracker that was embedded into both the cell phones for precautionary use. He had tried to teach the dragon how to use it himself, but it was proving difficult to teach a dragon of old-ways the tricks of the current age trades. It wasn't hard to locate Malchior's location, especially since the Disciplinary Committee funded the tech for the DAs.

Bastian frowned as the red beckon indicated Malchior's location, somewhere far north and if the elf didn't know any better he'd say the dragon was heading out of the city, but was still within close range of Ryan Diamond's home. "Bastian?"

Bastian straightened up and snapped his phone shut as he turned to face the Maiden at the same time slipping his phone back into his pocket, he smiled graciously and bowed, "There something that trouble's you my lady?"

With a hesitant smile on her face she gazed at him suspiciously, "Well, yes, you … is everything alright?"

"… Yes, but it appears I've been called away on another more pressing matter, but if my lady would have me otherwise …"

"Oh no! Goodness no," she shook her head with a hand pressed to her heart, "I am very aware of your position as a Disciplinary Agent whatever the matter is I'm sure you'll see to it that it is dealt with straight away. I commend you for you services though; I shall let my father know you served me well."

Bastian offered her a charming smile and a final bow, "Many thanks, and a thousand apologies, enjoy your night."

Without further ado Bastian swiftly maneuvered through the crowd with purpose and elegance, he nodded at the demon guards at the iron-gate to let him through and they did so. Once outside he whistled a high note and in response his falcon shot out of the nearby thicket and pierced the skies screaming loud and long. Bastian licked his lips and whistled a few more notes perfectly in a tune that carried into the wind and echoed across the land. The falcon screeched in response and in turn as it dropped out of the sky and swooped into the driveway it had grown to a size that Bastian could ride.

The elf in question never skipped a single beat of his old friend's wings as he hopped on board and grabbed fists full of his feathers to keep himself steady as the Falcon climbed in altitude. Bastian patted the back of his neck, "Good boy, now, to the city, head north, go!"

Keeping his head low, Bastian again pulled out his cell phone, but this time to see if everyone at the Villa was alright, he dialed up the house number and waited patiently until Jinx finally picked up on the fourth ring, she sounded panicked, _"Hello?"_

"Goodness Jinx, it's just me, is everything alright?"

"_Oh God! Bastian! You have no idea how good it is to have you call!"_

"Nice to know I'm wanted, now tell me what's wrong."

"_It's Raven … and X, they've both lost their minds!"_

"Well, I figured they were madly in love, I just didn't think they'd be so literal about it."

"_What the HELL are you talking about?!"_

"Oh, not on the same topic then? Sorry, please continue."

"… _Jeez … well, Raven's gone –"_

"Gone?"

"_Yes! Gone, and we have no idea where she went, X thinks he's got a lead by following a homing device embedded within her, but the idiot thinks he's got it all covered by himself."_

"So let me guess, he took off on his own."

"_Typical of him to never ask for help, look, he took Raven's communicator, I could give you the number to dial directly to it so you can talk some sense into that moron's head."_

"Oh well that's very sweet of you Jinx, but I already have the number, just do me a favor and stay with Tru, I'm sure you've already figured out the girl is much like her brothers, never one to follow orders."

"_Right. Thanks Bastian."_

"Not a problem." Bastian ended the call just as the Falcon dropped in altitude, "Whoa! Easy, a little warning might help next time …"

He checked where he was in tracking Malchior and then glanced over the Falcon's wing to find that they were right on top of the signal. The Falcon screeched again, warning Bastian to jump off onto the roof-top before he morphed back into his original form. The elf did as told and the moment his feet hit the gravel of the building he sighed heavily and shuddered, there was so much negative energy shrouding this place and if he wasn't mistaken he could sense Death was nearby, _Oh no … please don't make this out to be what I think this is …_

He shut his cell phone and put it in his pocket as he unhooked his katana from its holster and held the sheathe in his tight grasp, the Falcon flew over his head and swooped to the other side of the building where he landed. Bastian quickly followed, but the moment he walked around the ventilation shaft his mouth hit the floor, "Oh no … no, no, no, no …"

Bastian skidded on his knees to kneel before his fallen friend, Malchior, who now laid unmoving, non-breathing, and lifeless on a rooftop in the middle of Uptown Jump City. His skin was pale, almost sickly gray with his veins poisoned black, his eyes were closed and anyone at a far distance would have mistaken him for having fallen asleep. Bastian, of course, knew better, he saw the cuts on his body and frowned with a shake of his head when he noticed Malchior's phone was open reading that his call to the elf had just ended.

Bastian sighed heavily and pulled back his fire-red hair when the wind blew it to his face, "Now you've gone and done it …"

Reluctantly, Bastian picked up Malchior's wrist and pressed two fingers to it to read if he really didn't have a pulse … he held his finger there for 15 seconds even moving it around to be sure he got the right vein. He got nothing … that is … until he felt a small hint of a pulse, "No way …"

He thought he was mistaken, so he reached up to the side of Malchior's neck and even pressed his ear to his chest to hear a heart beat, it took another 15 seconds until he got a reading … a genuine heart beat, "No … way … but you're not breathing …"

Bastian sat up still holding the side of Malchior's face; he arched a brow and brought a hand up then smacked it down to the other side of the dragon's face. Malchior's body suddenly jolted to life, he turned his head to the side and coughed up blood … but it was black. He snarled, hissed, and growled, even whined in pain as he head his stomach and kept his head to the side still throwing up what his body was trying to get rid of. Bastian stared in utter disbelief, "Blood hell … you're still alive?"

"Either that …" Malchior wheezed, "Or we're both dead … damn it Bastian … why did you wake me …"

"Well excuse me for making sure you're still alive … how is that even possible? My senses may not be as strong as yours but I could smell your death even now …"

Malchior threw up more of the black poison mixed with more of his blood and he shivered when he felt his body still trying to fight the poison, "I'm … not … human, remember? _Argh …_ where's Raven?"

"Not here obviously … as a matter of fact, she's not anywhere …"

The dragon coughed again, before he growled, "Damn … so I was right … He is after her …"

"Who …? Lucifer? Now how would you know that?"

"Because Theo's the one who summoned Him … and she needs Raven to complete her Ascension."

Bastian frowned and looked off to the side with shake of his head, "Well … the girl's ambitious I'll give her that."

"Enough with the jokes …" Malchior shuddered and gritted his teeth feeling the poison trying to fight his body to stop his slowly beating heart he dug his claws into the cracked cement he laid on feeling his fingers hardening morphing back into his original black talons. He fought instinct just a bit longer to say, "… Raven has to stay away from Theo … _ah …"_

"Hmm, well that's gonna be a bit of a problem considering we don't know where she is … for all _I _know she could be at Theo's little party right now, apparently her parents crowned her Heir to the Cross Clan. However with what I've just been told, I've come to the conclusion that, that is now a load of crap … makes sense actually, I didn't see her parents at the party."

"Feh … some DA you are … _ugh …_ now move."

Bastian blinked and arched a confused brow, "Excuse me?"

"I said … _move!"_

Bastian shot up and backed off when Malchior screamed as his body's bones started to crack and shift he rolled himself from his back to his hands and knees where his skin and the rest of his body started to tear itself a part. It looked violent, and it looked painful, something Bastian knew shouldn't be for the dragon that could morph himself quite literally on the fly, but then again what would he know? Bastian, at the corner of his eye caught the Falcon take flight to escape Malchior's rehabilitated wings that snapped out and its span alone covered the entire rooftop. Bastian made sure to keep his head down as he flipped out his cell phone for one last time that night.

--

_This can't be right … they're too many people … _Raven stood at the gates of the large estate her instincts lead her to where she saw people of all immortal status enter the home of none other than Remington Cross … Theo's demonic father. It must have been a simple celebration and nothing too serious considering their attire was hardly anything glamorous. Of course, there were those among the crowd that just dazzled and attracted attention with a look alone, but that was beside the point, the point was everyone she saw so far were Immortal Officials … those of great stature and held to the highest-esteem.

From Demon Lords, to Angelic Guardian Elite, to Vampire Grandmasters, to Lycan Pack Leaders, and Elvin Royalty, it boggled her mind and she couldn't understand what would call so many important beings into such a large gathering. Other then the Eternal Ball that happens once every winter … but currently they were in the middle of summer, Raven frowned. She reached out to grasp the bars of the black-iron gates that locked her out of the estate and leaned her forehead against the gate; _Does he wish to make an example out of me …? No … he can't make an appearance to such a crowd, he'd be risking too much. He may be the epitome of evil … but he's taken a form of flesh and blood that can be wounded and destroyed. _She shook her head and pulled away from the gate, "I probably got the wrong location …"

She turned away from the Cross Residence, but as she did two Earth Demons – demons with animal forms, and the lowest on the totem pole, but still quite formidable and known to be very old fashion – stopped her in her place. They neither forced nor tried to intimidate her, they were just doing as their Lord and Master commanded them to, and with gentlemen like bows they respected her position. The one to her right gazed upon her with utmost seriousness, "My lady, you've arrived later then we've anticipated, but you are free to enter."

Raven narrowed her eyes and licked her fangs, deciding that if she was going to be a demon she might as well go all out and use her rank privileges as well. She flared her aura warningly at the men who were both obviously taller and well-built then she was, but quivered under her power as she hissed, "I don't do flattery. Mind telling me why you've been anxiously awaiting my presence?"

They bowed and stepped back to acknowledge her oppression, "Only his grace has the answer to the questions you seek my lady … he awaits you within the gates."

"And the celebration? What of it?"

"An Ascension, Miss Theo will finally be crowned heir of her father's clan."

_A human? Even to this era that's a very controversial move … had they informed the Committee of this?_ Raven closed her eyes and shook her head as she turned her back on the demons where the black gates opened and allowed her entrance. Without looking back or saying another word she proceeded with a distant look on her face and a deep frown on her face, _Honestly, does it really matter anymore? _She ran her clawed fingers through her violet hair as the wind kicked up around the cliff-side area where the modern mansion was built on.

In the distance she could hear the waves smashing into the rocks with a furious sense of urgency that wanted to be heard. Raven neither cared nor acknowledged nature's chilling warning that whispered in her ear and told her a greater sorrow she'd soon enough discover once she walked up the steps into the party. She just knew she had other more pressing business she needed to tend to. Dressed in a white long-blouse with the tail reaching down pass her thighs and black ribbon-like laces, the front a small vest-like button-up high and exposing her midriff completed with a silk-black tie and dark-blue jeans. Raven was going to see to it that, that business was taken care of in style, well; it was her demon's arrogant mentality that thought so anyway.

Upon reaching the door the demon servants under the Cross family's command opened it for her with gracious bows. Her steel-toed boots tapped against the black marble ground on which the party was taking place, surrounded by those of her own kind, Raven couldn't help to feel the collective power that swelled within the room. Power that both dwarfed her being and could barely tap her level of existence, here is where looks and material possessions meant little to nothing and statues, name, and age meant the world.

Raven, was young, she had little to no name other than her father's which was hardly considered a consolation with the reputation behind it, and she was a half-breed … by many within the party's standards she wasn't worth what a pig would spit. A lot of the occupants showed it too, the up turn of their noses, the rolled of their eyes, the hiss behind their fangs, and the narrowed eyed look of _'what the hell is she doing here'_. Raven had come across worse and she wasn't about to let this crowd distract her from her true mission … however, one person did manager to throw her off guard.

"Raven!" Theo shouted from across the main-entrance a top her grand staircase looking sexy in her short-tight little black dress that hugged her every curve and accentuated them. Her get-up almost made Raven cringe as she watched the human-girl come down the stairs in her super high four inch gold stilettos with the open toe, honestly fearful of the girl tripping and breaking her neck on the way down. Not an ideal way to end the night, nor how to accept and be welcome into the highest-honor a human could ever be given in an immortal society.

Theo finally reached the bottom and smiled as many men and women greeted her a fair night, complimented her on her extraordinary beauty and congratulated her on becoming the next heir to the Cross Clan demons. She accepted them all with grace of a true demon princess, something Raven would otherwise find uncomfortable with that many people in her face considering most of them were faking it. By the time Theo had made it to Raven the poor girl was swamped, she huffed and put a hand to her chest as she stepped up to Raven, "Wow this gives the paparazzi a run for their money, heh …"

Raven wasn't laughing with her, or smiling for that matter; she narrowed her eyes and took noticed of the golden necklace around her neck with a five-pointed star at the center of a golden ring, and then in a sharp tone said, "Theo, do you know what's being asked of you with all this?"

"What? Becoming an heir? Of course, if you think I think it's a game then you have nothing to worry about, my parents have taught me enough," she giggled and leaned closer to Raven as if she share a juicy secret, "Of course they haven't taught me any magics, strictly off limits I know, but _anyway,_ besides me … um … how's, uh, how's Ryan?"

Raven blinked slowly when she came to a steady realization, after observing the worried and disappointed expression she had on her beautiful face. She sucked in a deep breath and slowly exhaled as she said, "… Ah … he's doing fine, Tru's well too."

"Oh she is?" She tried to show minor interest, as if it were just a passing conversation, but she was failing miserably, "Well, that's good, I mean, ever since you came along she's been more … um … happy, I guess the word is. But, you know what, I have to be honest, I didn't expect you to be here … I've heard how you've refused to take command of your father's followers I didn't think you'd be here to –"

"I'm not representing anyone," Raven interjected coldly, "and I don't approve of you becoming an heir to a demon clan … it's dangerous. Immortals are very traditional, not to mention most of them are prejudice against humans, demons in particular. They could careless about me; you think they will in any way respect you? You're sadly mistaken."

"I'm not a complete idiot, Raven," Theo narrowed her jade eyes that impressively hardened to stone as she frowned in defiance at the half-breed, "I know what I'm dealing with and I know my place."

"Obviously you don't –"

"You know, just because you're too much of a coward to take your rightful place and claim your father's throne does not mean the rest of us will follow in your stead." Theo pulled back and cooled off with a deep breath as she smoothed out her dress; she smiled to a few who looked their way but the smile never reached her hardened eyes.

Raven arched a brow and with no sleeve to dust off because her blouse was a vest-like design she dusted off her shoulder as a gesture of disregard. Her violet eyes cruelly glared and pierced through Theo's defiant gaze to grasp her heart in a frozen grip sending chills down the human's spine. Her voice dropped an octave so those around her could not hear her over the music, her words directed at Theo, and Theo alone, "I never said I'd stop you from being a fool … my job is not to baby-sit anyone, so if you think you can, go right on a head, but I don't want you to say I never warned you. Have a good night."

With that, she gathered herself and with a flick of her hair she flipped it over her shoulder, turned, and walked away with class, style, and elegant grace that Theo knew she could never obtain with years of practice. Raven, because of her blood, was born with it and it made the human girl grit her teeth before she called out to Raven with a stiff smile, "Oh, Raven!"

Raven humored her and craned her neck to look back at Theo's fake smile.

Theo giggled, "Right, um, I almost forgot to mention, there's someone I'd like you to meet … although … I think you already know him …"

On cue, the doors were opened and the festive room suddenly filled with tension and apprehension, the music stopped and the party might as well have been dead as Lucifer walked in with a cool and steady stride. His warm smile and cool chocolate eyes swept the grounds as he nodded for the minor-demons to close the door … and lock them down. He spread his arms open in greeting and the people nearest him backed up, pushing every one else back as he bowed in greeting, "Ladies and Gentlemen, what a wonderful night to be celebrating such a joyous occasion of breaking from tradition to finally branch out and explore the wonders of the human mind. Theo Cross."

Like the Red Sea he parted the crowd to where only the grinning Theo and the anxious Raven stood in the middle of all the attention, Lucifer bowed again, "You have my utmost heart-felt congratulations my dear for making it thus far."

Theo curtseyed with a bow of her head, Raven sneered and growled, "It was you … you summoned him to the surface …"

She stood back up and clasped her hands together in front of her as she continued to grin at Raven, "You sound surprised? Hadn't Malchior already let you in on the information he dug up about me? No? Oh, what a shame …"

Raven's sneer turned to a frown as she backed up from Theo and side-glanced the Devil before glaring at her skeptically wit ha glimmer of hope that this wasn't what she thought it was, "Theo … Malchior has nothing to do with this …"

"Of course he doesn't … at least …" she looked at Lucifer and her grin widened when he nodded his reassurance of a job well done, she giggled and shrugged nonchalantly at Raven, "… Not anymore."

A cold chill ran down her spine, her heart-rate increased and a sense of helplessness suddenly crawled into her stone-will. She couldn't stop her hands from trembling if she wanted to at the thought of Malchior and his well being … she had to be lying, she just _had_ to be! Not Malchior … he wasn't even human … he had no mortal soul … he had no part in this whatsoever! The chandelier shuddered, the glasses and bottles at the mini-bar trembled with her hands and those around her could feel the slipping control of a chaotic bomb about to drop.

Theo grinned, "It hurts doesn't it … to not be able to save those around you? Feed on it Raven, and destroy everything around you … it's all you're good for …"

Her control kept slipping, anxiety and rage fueling her demon, giving it the power to shake the entire estate and those in attendance gasped. An angel nearest Raven reached out to help calm her tormented soul, but Raven herself snarled at him and scratched his arm, "Don't. Touch. Me."

He held his wound and narrowed his eyes on the demoness while someone else in the crowd shouted, "Enough of this!"

Theo backed up towards Lucifer as the enraged lycan took the floor; he shoved Raven out of his way. She went sliding across the marbled floor to rest at Lucifer's feet. He knelt behind her as she sat up and snarled in defiance, Lucifer placed a hand on her shoulder and whispered into her ear, "The dragon you treasure so, hardly put up a fight at all my dear, he was no good to you and still now he is of no use … why bother defend his honor?"

Raven hissed and swept up her claws from the marbled ground, scraping it as she tried to nail Lucifer in the face, but she ended up swiping air as Lucifer backed off and chuckled. He put his hands behind his back and watched Raven jump back on her feet, she squared off with the Devil himself, but sensed the Lycan Pack Leader approaching her, "Out of my way child, you are in no state of mind to fight."

She snarled, she wasn't thinking rationally and she knew it … but did it really matter at all now? She failed to protect her friend and she'll be damned if someone else would take away her chance to make his murder pay, so she turned to face the lycan, "Well excuse me _sir,_ but tell me, what could _possibly_ make you an exception."

The lycan bared his fangs, "You insult me?"

From among the crowd his strongest men stepped up to flank their leader and Raven cracked her claws in warning, "I'm just saying … a dog is a man's best friend, and do I look like a man to you?"

Lucifer chuckled, "This is going off better than I expected."

Theo sneered, "We're still not finished here, round up the minor-demons and finish off the Titans, I don't want any unexpected guests."

"Ooo … someone is impatient."

"Shut-up and do as I say."

"You know, there is an old saying: One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it."

"I didn't ask for philosophical ideal."

"No, you didn't, you didn't ask me of anything at all …" Lucifer chuckled again his eyes on Raven as she maneuvered to keep the distance between her and the lycan pack. He only turned his back to do as he was told, with Theo following after him when the pack leader barked and his men lunged at the single half-breed. Raven's eyes glowed pure white as she threw up a black shield and threw the lycans back into the crowd. However, the moment she dropped her barrier the pack-leader jumped her and with a ruthless upper-cut threw Raven across the room to slam into the far wall.

She slid to the ground, her head throbbing and her jaw hurting, she gritted her teeth and tried to get back on her feet, but found it difficult to stop the world from spinning. Until someone helped her to her feet, "Come on girl, you can do this …"

She stilled and looked up to see who was helping her, his chocolate brown skin and kind gray eyes stared at her with a supportive passion that almost stopped her heart in disbelief and fear as she whispered his name in shock, "Cyborg …?"

He grinned and winked his right that glowed a comforting mechanical red and smiled, "Now on your feet, you got bigger fish to fry; we'll take care of muscle-head over here."

"'_We'?_"

Victor Stone, otherwise known as Cyborg, shrugged while he kept his eye on the moving lycans within the crowd looking for an opening to take his friend out, "Long story short, Jenna's death _wasn't _an accident, she had a connection to Detective Daevon and Theo Cross, we've had our eye on her since."

"Theo …" Raven began to look around, her senses on wide-alert and since she never expected the Titans to be here she never expected to find them hidden amongst the crowd of officials, _Officials … Lords … Ladies … Grandmasters … Pack Leaders … _Raven grabbed onto Cyborg's sleeve, "Cyborg, I need you to find a way to evacuate everyone here …"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"I don't know … but I don't like the idea of this many people of stature gathered in one setting … it's too big of a target if you're looking to create a new world order."

"… You don't think a Top Model would actually be capable of such a thing … do you?"

Raven sneered as she pressed licked her fangs, "She's living breath proof of what I've always thought was true."

"And that would be?"

"That celebrities are just high-priced show ponies trying to brainwash society into their ideal way to live; only this one's got the balls enough to take extreme measures, get everyone out, and make sure the minor-demons don't find out who you are."

"You got it boss," Cyborg let her go and Raven sank into the ground leaving her friends to take care of the people while she hunted Theo and Lucifer, which didn't actually take long.

They were just leaving the courtyard pass the iron-gates, Raven scowled, _"Azarath! Metrion! Zinthous!"_

She rose two trees from he Earth and blocked the driveway, the limo driver came to a screeching halt, Theo hopped out of her car and turned back to glare into the courtyard and sneered, "Don't you have a dog to play with?"

Raven growled, "Yeah, but the bitch is running away, had to stop you some how."

Theo gave a look of disbelief, she turned to look over the car at Lucifer who leaned on the door and shrugged, "She said it, not me."

"You rule over all demons! She's a half-breed, tell her to go back in there and finish her job!"

"Well that's the point, she's a half-breed, meaning Half _Human_ … incase you didn't know that's what you are my dear and I can't force humans to do what they don't want to do …" Lucifer looked at Raven and grinned, "She may also be a half-demon, but her mentality is mortal … I think therefore I am … so I can't touch her unless she's willing to completely submit to her higher-power. Clever girl …"

"Then beat her into submission."

"…" Lucifer shot a side glance to the demanding human, and slowly asked, "What did I just say? I can't _force_ her to do anything … no more than I can force you to shut your mouth."

Theo looked back at Raven who in the middle of all their talk was slowly crossing the courtyard her sights solely locked on her, Theo scowled, "Fine, I'll do this myself. Guards!"

The demons Raven faced earlier that instructed her to go through the gates stood at command, only instead of the two, there were now five and they all advanced Raven pushing her back into the courtyard. Raven stood at the ready, Lucifer watched with great interest, and Theo's scowl darkened, "Make sure she knows her place."

The five leapt at her, Raven flew into the air and kept their all at bay, while Lucifer laughed, "Oh she just never seizes to amaze … here I thought the death of a friend would completely shut down her human mind to protect her from emotional torment and mental strain, but look at her! She's operating at full capacity, ah, yes, the wonders of the human soul … no wonder _He_ loves you so much."

"Anyone ever tell you, you talk too damn much?"

Lucifer kept perfectly still when he felt the barrel of a gun pressed to the back of his head, Theo looked his way and gasped in more shock than fright, "Oh my God, Ryan, no …"

--

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything … well, maybe a few of the characters, but the Teen Titans belong to DC not me … sad really, really sad (tear)**

**A/N: O.O Oh my frickin' GOD!! I am SOOOO sorry this took forever-n-a-day I feel so bad … to be perfectly honest I was starting to lose interest in story writing altogether … I wasn't feeling the drive nor the motivation to keep going and it was freaking me out. Every time I opened up the doc I'd freeze up and end up just staring at the empty page. I really am sorry this took long, please forgive me, the story is almost over so bare with me here and I'll try not to disappoint you.**

**Hopefully I'll see u in the next chappie!!**

**Until then …**

**l8er daez!!**


	26. The AfterParty

**Famous for Being Famous**

**The After-Party**

"Anyone ever tell you, you talk too damn much?"

Lucifer kept perfectly still when he felt the barrel of a gun pressed to the back of his head, Theo looked his way and gasped in more shock than fright, "Oh my God, Ryan, no … please, don't be stupid, he's –"

"I know who he is," X said with a dark scowl on his face as his eyes darted to her and burned her with fiery conviction, "but what I want to know is what the fuck are you doing with him."

She shook her head rapidly and held out her hands in defense, "No, no Ryan … you have this all wrong, he's using me!"

Lucifer blinked and slowly his head turned to stare blankly at the little human girl, honestly at a loss for words at how incredibly unbelievable she was. Why, he knew he'd crack up laughing at any moment if the fool with the gun actually believed anything that came out of her mouth. Curious, he tried to crane his neck around to catch a glimpse of Ryan, but Ryan pressed the gun forcefully, "Hey, keep your eyes forward, and while you're at it, call off your dogs."

The Devil himself sighed heavily and rolled his eyes, "They are not mine, they're hers."

Theo shook her head again, "No! I mean – yes! They are mine, but, please Ryan, you have to believe me! He told me to attack Raven; he said that the Titan were a threat to him! He said –"

"Shut up!" Ryan snapped back, "I don't care whose goddamn fault it is! Call'em off _now!"_

"…" Theo hesitated, she gulped, blinked, and looked to Lucifer who arched a brow and just watched her as she look into the courtyard where Raven was barely holding her own against the five demons.

The half-breed in mention had been brutally backhanded and sent sailing into the steps of the mansion entrance. She had cringed, but quickly recovered when she saw another come flying down at her with a brass-knuckle, she dodged to her right, but ended up having her hair yanked back and her head go slamming into the pavement. Stars exploded into her vision and she damn near blacked out, she wished she had too, she didn't know how much more of it she could take. Especially when the demon lifted her off the ground with one hand clutching her throat and crushing her windpipe, chocking off her ability to breath.

Quite literally, she clawed at his hand and the pain forced him to let her go, but as her feet hit the ground she swiped the floor from under him. In the same fluid motion she lifted up her heel and dropped it on his chest with enough power to create a crater in the earth. Her head still a bit dizzy she managed to dodge the other four demons and take to the air chanting her mantra, _"Azarath! Metrion! ZINTHOUS!"_

The limo was encased in darkness, Theo screamed in fright and stepped away, her heel dug into a crack in the cement and she tripped falling flat on her ass. All the while Lucifer took advantage of the situation and snatched Ryan's gun, Ryan backed off but not without quickly drawing a blade from his pocket. He flung it at Lucifer who barely had time to dodge as the blade whizzed passed his ear and clipped the corner. Which gave X enough time to pull out two handfuls of x-blades and launched them all at once, forcing Lucifer to either draw and play sharpshooter, or dodge.

The Devil choose the later of the two and gritted his teeth as each blade shot passed him, and each barely missed his person. However, occupied with the red barrage, he almost missed the sneaky little thief slither up to his side to quite literally stab him in the back with a knife this time around. Lucifer snickered as he caught X's wrist, but before he could twist it, X dropped the knife and grabbed his wrist to keep him in place while his other hand caught the knife. Lucifer quickly swung the gun around to shoot his chest, but X moved his head to the side while his hand with the knife shoved the gun away from him and again held Lucifer in place.

The Devil laughed and grinned playfully, "Well I'll be damned, no pun intended of course, one would think I take the advantage with this gun … but it just goes to show it's not the weapon that makes the man. I like you, I like you a lot … you _entertain_ me."

X cringed and was suddenly not so hot about the idea of keeping this devil close to his person, with a sneer he replied, "Look, straight up, you can go on doing whatever it is you're doing in this world, by all means, don't let me stop you. I'm just here for one thing … and I'm not leaving without her."

Lucifer smiled and nodded in understanding, "Of course you're not … but you see, the order is not mine to give. I'm here on a sort of, _temporary assignment_, seeing as certain people want to rearrange my hierarchy, I have to be sure she's not only worth my time and effort to keep in the near future, but as it stands currently I am under her influence."

X arched a brow and tilted his head in slightly confusion, "Are we still talking about the same person here?"

"No, I changed topic for a bit so you can understand the general gist of the situation." Lucifer with little to no effort whatsoever, Lucifer swung X around and like a rag doll flung him into the cemented portion of the exit gate. He bounced off the surface and hit the ground on his hands and knees, but he couldn't hold his own weight so he plopped to the ground in an unbecoming thud. Lucifer scoffed and tossed to the side before he walked over to Theo and held out his hands to help her off the ground, "Time to go."

Theo blinked, glanced at the limp Ryan then took Lucifer's hand to have her pulled weightlessly off the ground and on his back, she held onto his shoulders as he crouched low to the ground and with a single bound they were airborne. For a short period of time before a blazing fireball nearly shot him out of the sky. It forced Lucifer back to Earth where he let Theo slide off his back as he squared off with the last opponent he expected to face.

Tru, with her book open and her fire nymph floating beside her stood protectively over her recovering brother and Jinx struggling to give him back his strength as quickly as she could. Lucifer tilted his head in amusement and smirked, "Well now … here's something I don't often see, not since David and Goliath that is."

Ryan gritted his teeth as he struggled to at least get back on his knees, he growled, "Tru, what the hell are you doing?"

"Buying you some time."

Ryan glared at Jinx, "I told you to watch her! Why did you follow me?!"

"Shut-up; get mad later I'm trying to concentrate."

Lucifer chuckled, "I hope you know what you're doing child …"

"Tru …" Ryan winced when Jinx touched him in a tender area, "… don't do this …"

Tru bit down on her lower lip before she opened her mouth and chanted from her spell book, the pages fluttering to the verse she recited and her fire-nymph flipped and rolled into a tight ball that grew and grew until the heat melted the Earth. Lucifer smiled in astonishment, the child was defiant he'll give her that much and she had tremendous potential to be a great Sage. With a passionate scream the fireball swirled around her and slingshot itself in his direction, Lucifer braced and prepared to fling it back to take her, Jinx, and her brother out for good.

Theo darted into the nearby brush, afraid of getting caught in the crossfire, she stared on and caught sight of something odd, just as the fireball neared Lucifer something dropped behind it. Lucifer dug his heel into the dirt as the ball hit his mark and he pushed back, but what he wasn't expecting was equal force bearing down on him. Suddenly, the ball exploded in a brilliant display of fireworks that threw the devil back and across the driveway. He skidded in the dirt and winced when a stab of pain pierced his heart and he clutched his chest to quell it.

Lucifer sat up and glared pass the smoke and debris at Tru, not at all believing she was the only one behind the force of what he considered to be a meager parlor trick, he scowled when he saw Bastian flick his hissing katana. The elf smirked and winked, "You didn't really think I'd let her take you on alone did you?"

Behind Bastian, within the courtyard a large black figure dropped from the sky and roared long and loud enough to shake the Earth. The black-dragon curled around the tired Raven who held her shoulder where a deep gash drenched her white blouse with blood. His scarlet eyes glared at the demons who stood sizing the snarling dragon up, trying to calculate the odds of winning since the half-breed wasn't going down as easy as they first thought.

Raven stared up at Malchior in doubt and confusion, shaking her head she said, "You're supposed to be dead!"

Malchior side-glanced her and through his reptilian face she detected a hint of a cocky smirk as he flicked his tail to keep the demons at bay, _"Oh ye of little faith."_

Malchior slammed a talon to the dirt and shook the ground; he then coiled his head back and snapped it out to breathe a stream of fire at the offending demons. Raven leaned close to his scaly-hide in order to avoid the extreme heat. However, from the corner of her eye she spotted one of the braver demons rushing in to tackle Malchior from the side. Raven scowled and with her powers erected a black shield that directed Malchior's flame to the assailant.

The demon was caught in the blast and was justly obliterated, seeing this the rest of the demons scrambled away from the dragon and darted into the nearby woods. Malchior snorted a cloud of smoke from his snout and tipped his head up when he heard a scream of outrage. It wasn't from Lucifer, it was Theo, she was gripping her hair and pulling at it in frustration, Raven scowled, "I'm going to end this right now."

"_Be careful love," _Malchior warned as he watched Raven levitate off the ground to fly towards the cause of their problems, the dragon stayed close, but refused to morph-down for the poison in his system was still working its way out.

Raven, however, landed beside Jinx and glared at both her and Ryan who had found the strength to get back on his feet. Ryan shot her an equal glare of agitation, but Raven ignored him and marched up beside Bastian, gesturing for Tru to stand back with her brother and Jinx. The elf side-glanced her and cocked a brow, "You're still alive?"

"You sound so shocked."

"I genuinely am –"

"It's _RUINED!_ It's all _RUINED!!"_ Theo cried looking about damn near ready to lose her mind, her envy-green eyes glanced over all those who dared to stand in her way and her rage grew to unimaginable heights as she screeched, _"I'M _supposed to be the queen-of-queens!! _I _more than _ANYONE _deserve the world for putting up with _YOU_ –" she pointed at Raven her face contorted into an expression that faded from humanity with every passing second she snarled, "_– DEMONS_ and your _GODDAMN_ holier-than-thou attitude!! Just because I am _human_ does not mean _ANYTHING!!_ And I'll show you … oh … I'll show you _ALL!!"_

Bastian frowned and braced for the worse when she grabbed her five-star pendant around her neck, the only thing protecting her from Lucifer's wrath and the only thing keeping the Lord of Darkness from his true power. He held out his hand to try and negotiate, "Theo … come now, don't do this … it's not worth it, I promise you you'll no sooner regret it …"

Her mind was long gone, Raven knew, she could feel her psychotic-breakdown from where she stood and she gulped. Tru furrowed her brows when she cast a quick glance at Raven's wrist where her charm-bracelet dangled and a terrible feeling built in her gut. Theo gritted her teeth, her eyes darting from the elf, to the level-headed Devil who seemed to be the only being _not_ on edge. His cool brown eyes looked from Theo, to the scan the others and smirked when his gaze landed on Raven.

The look in her eye, the tension in her body, Lucifer knew a prepared warrior when he saw one and the Devil was quite sure she wasn't going to let him go without a fight. His eyes trailed back to Theo who shook her head and without remorse she turned to him and gave him her last order, "Destroy this world, and everyone in it!"

"NO!!" Bastian moved to stop her, but she ripped the pendant from her neck and the shockwave of the disrupted spell radiated outward and threw him as well as anyone else standing within a mile radius off their feet. Malchior, with his size smashed through the mansion's front entrance and nearly toppled the entire house as he destroyed a few key support beams.

The aftermath threw everyone in a daze.

All except for Lucifer who sucked in a deep breath and slowly exhaled as he felt his power course through his veins and restored his deteriorating shell, it just felt so _good _to finally be let off the leash. He was so ecstatic in fact that he didn't know what he wanted to do first! He felt like a kid in a candy store! The world was finally his for the taking! _But first …_ he thought with a malicious grin, all traces of his warm chocolate eyes were gone, replaced instead with an ice-cold black gaze.

He tilted his head to Theo and with a simple flick of his wrist the midnight shadows suddenly consumed her and her relenting and deafening scream echoed off into the distance. It sent a chill down the Earth's spine as the World held its breath; Raven sat up a bit frazzled by the aftershock, but otherwise well. She spared a moment to gain her bearings and noticed that Ryan and Tru were no longer by her side. Bastian had somehow gotten lodged in a tree and looked like he had lost consciousness, Jinx happened to be beside her, but she was still in a daze from the blast. Raven then spotted Lucifer smiling in the darkness obviously smug with himself about something that Raven didn't want to know about she had her job to do. With a quick glance at the glowing bracelet around her wrist, she sneered and used her powers to silently phased through the ground and simultaneously she popped back out behind the devil.

Without thinking she tackled him with a vicious snarl, he instead flipped her over head and slammed her into the ground. Stars exploded in her head accompanied with a deafening ringing sound in her ears which she soon got over when she noticed something else far more deadly than that. Her airway, there was pressure on it, she couldn't breath! Lucifer had her pinned to the ground watching the air leave her lungs with every exhale, he smirked, "It's been fun my dear … but all good things must come to an end."

She clawed at his arm, grasped his shirt, and kicked her legs, anything to get him off! Anything to have the chance to say what she had to, Lucifer noticed her struggle and he chuckled in amusement, "Any last words?"

He relieved some of the pressure and she quickly gasped for what little air he allowed through her passage, but only enough to say what would finally end his fun. Grasping his flesh she hoarsely said through gritted teeth, _"I banish you to Hell …"_

At first bewildered, the Devil soon enough discovered the true meaning of her words when her glowing bracelet suddenly burst into a brilliant array of bright, pure-white light. The charms dropped from the chain that pulled itself apart and swirled around the both of them. Lucifer snarled in outrage when he felt his wrist suddenly burn hot with scorching metal and the Earth around them started to crumble. The Devil glared at the grinning Raven, he leaned down so their faces were inches apart and his human appearance melted to expose a creature of time, space, creation, and perfection. His voice, no longer human, growled, "You come with me."

"Gladly."

"_Raven!"_ Ryan screamed somewhere in the distance, somewhere in the back of her head as she felt the flames of Hell lick her flesh and burn her human soul. It hurt, yes, but what's an eternity of pain compared to the suffering of innocent lives? _Better me than them …_ she closed her eyes as Lucifer released her and dove into the darkest depths of Hell. She fell with him, but only for a short period before she hit solid ground, exhausted and spent she didn't care to open her eyes, instead she relished in what she knew would be precious seconds of rest before her damned soul was tortured.

Barely three seconds and her shoulder was nudged, someone was poking her.

Prepared for her eternal damnation, she opened her eyes to face her new life only to blink in utter confusion when she found herself staring into blackened eyes of a pure-white being that shouldn't belong. He tilted his head curiously and held out his black-clawed hands that otherwise appeared soft and gentle. His voice, it was so melodic, so peaceful and inviting that it nearly sent her lulling to sleep like a child would in the arms of their mother. He asked, "You are the demon Raven are you not?"

"…" tiredly she sighed and nodded in response, it was hard to lie to this man, he was just too inviting, "Yes … I am …"

"Good … Bastian had mentioned you'd be coming soon … may I?" He gestured to her body, asking permission to touch her.

_What a gentleman, _Raven thought still a little out of it and confused as she nodded in admission and the beautiful creature smiled as he scooped her in his arms and added, "My name is Gabriel by the way … tell Bastian this means we're even."

"Bas –!" she couldn't finish the elf's name, the world around her flashed white, but she knew somewhere in the back of her mind she had to thank Bastian for saving her life. He knew her too well, it was annoying, creepy, and exasperating … but she knew she couldn't stay mad at him.

The world, being so bright, forced her to close her eyes, but she felt the familiar tug of teleportation, the ground beneath her gave way and she felt herself suddenly suspended in time and space. However, it only lasted for a split second before gravity kicked in and she found herself sitting on the same destroyed gravel where she had took the plunge into Hell itself. Her hand immediately went to the shoulder where a gaping gash should have been, but was not. In fact, when she gazed down at herself, despite the smoke and mist swirling around her she felt perfectly fine, good-as-brand-spankin-new.

She looked up and around wondering where everyone else went, but when she turned her head to the right she was suddenly hit when a blur of orange and red as she was swept up in a back-breaking hug, "Oh! Friend Raven! You are undamaged!!"

Raven cringed and winced as Starfire's grip tightened, "Ah! Star … air … can't … breathe …"

Oxygen deprived, Raven feared she might just blackout, until the alien-princess let her go and gently placed her feet on the ground only to have a massive metal hand planted on top of her head and a green shape-shifter clamp around her waist. Raven gritted her teeth and pressed a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder, "Beast boy! Quit it!"

He hugged her tighter, "Awe, Starfire got her chance, my turn! We thought you were a goner for sure!"

The sorceress rolled her amethyst eyes and kept trying to shove the changeling off, "Seriously Beast Boy, if you don't let me go I'm going to personally escort you straight to Hell!"

He released her and sheepishly stood with his hands behind his back and the tip of his foot digging into the ground chuckling anxiously, "Okay, no touché, got it."

Raven smoothed back her long violet hair and glanced up at Cyborg who winked and held up his thumb, "Good to have you back girl."

She smiled gratefully, however her eyes drifted across the destroyed driveway to movement that caught her eye. It was Bastian with a few other Agents, probably discussing the situation, and questioning the involvement of Ryan, his sister, and Jinx who stood with the elf. Tru, clutching her book looked her way, smiled like a kid in a candy store and waved enthusiastically, obviously happy to have back. Raven smiled again in response, a smile that slowly faded as Ryan's amber gaze found hers, she blinked away from him and sucked in a deep breathe.

First thing was first, she looked back up at Cyborg and asked, "… The immortals … are they –"

Cyborg ruffled up her hair with a disbelieving chuckle, "Damn girl, give it a rest already! You just saved the whole world … I think you're entitled to a little vacation."

"After she finishes her first objective." That's what she was afraid of. Robin, still in a tux, but with his mask shielding his eyes crossed his arms over his chest and stood waiting for a response.

_Here comes Johnny Rainy-Cloud, _Raven sucked in a deep breath and turned from Cyborg to stand before her leader. The sorceress bit down on her lower lip then gritted her teeth again, _Now or never … _she thought with a heavy sigh, "Robin … Ja –"

"Excuse me," all attention was diverted from Raven to Ryan who had in the middle of their little reunion left Bastian's side to stand beside Robin. With dirt smeared on his cheek, and a small cut over his right eye he looked about as frazzled as a human could get when caught in the middle of a supernatural face-off. Starfire kept herself from squealing in excitement when she was finally face-to-face with her idol. Raven narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but otherwise kept from saying anything more as Ryan faced Robin, "Um … may I say something?"

Robin spared no emotion as he bluntly nodded his head, Ryan licked his lips then ran his fingers through his hair in thought, furrowing his brows he sucked in a deep breathe then slowly exhaled as he said, "Okay … I don't know how else to put this, so I'm just gonna say it … I'm Red X …" Starfire shrieked in horror, Beast Boy's mouth dropped in shock, Cyborg tried to readjust his hearing volume, Raven cocked a brow, and Robin remained passive.

Ryan continued without skipping a beat, "My name isn't James Jax, it's just a fake, I'm really Ryan Diamond and the only reason sunshine over there couldn't say anything was because I asked her not to. You see, I've been working UC, and I've been watching Theo Cross for awhile acting as her personal go-do guy, the assignments she put me on required me to break a few laws. In all actuality, I work for the Disciplinary Agency, and I am higher ranked than Raven so she knew absolutely nothing of my operation. So I ask she not receive any flack for my wrongs … she's innocent."

"Is he telling the truth?" Robin gave Raven no time to think, or let the information sink in, but quick on her feet she flawlessly responded the way she should.

"Yes."

"…" Robin slowly turned back to Ryan who shrugged and smirked charmingly, then winked and walked back to Bastian knowing full well that because he was apart of the DA Robin had no jurisdiction on him. The Titan couldn't prove or disprove the sneaky thief's proclamations since neither the DA or its Committee existed in the eyes of the human-public. If Robin really wanted to take Ryan down, he'd have to jump through a whole bunch of hoops in order to receive the information that'll incriminate the Red X and put him where he belongs, behind bars.

Although, weighing the odds and ends, Robin figured he wasn't worth it. So, instead he stood there watching the untouchable thief stand beside his sister, holding her hand, and pretending to listen to Bastian's report. Robin blinked, and without looking at Raven he asked, "That was complete and utter bullshit wasn't it?"

"…" Raven sighed heavily and nodded, "Yes … it was … but then again, I haven't been in the DA system for a while so I wouldn't know."

Robin scoffed and turned to her, "It's bullshit …" then, without warning he cracked a handsome smile and said, "Welcome back." Raven blinked slowly genuinely surprised she wasn't being ripped a new-one for lying her ass off. It made her wonder if her leader already knew who Red X was, he just wanted to know if she was willing enough to tell him the truth … did she pass his cryptic test? Was there a test? Or was she just over analyzing the situation? She didn't know, for now she just wanted to follow her leader's orders, lord knew she missed her home, "Let's head home guys … it's been a long night."

"But! _Dude!_ Red X! James! Ryan! Them guys! Wha –!" Beast Boy could barely utter a proper sentence structure he was still so shocked, Cyborg had to shove both him and Starfire along with Robin and Raven.

However, as Raven has come to know her night was not yet over, not when Bastian finally called to her attention, "Raven! Don't leave just yet I need to speak with you."

It took everything in Raven's power not to throw a fit, she was tired! Exhausted! And sick of the world! She just wanted to curl up with a good book, drink a few teas, and pass out on her soft bed! Was it too much to ask? Was it?! Instead of shouting these very words, she turned to Robin hoping that he wouldn't allow her to leave, but that much good it did her, he just shrugged and gestured for her to go while saying, "We'll see you back at the Tower."

With that, she levitated off the ground and flew to the smiling elf that held his arms out welcomingly, "You were just going to leave without saying good buy or thanking me? I'm hurt."

Raven scowled, "Make it quick Bastian, I'm tired, and I want to go home, it's been a long few weeks."

"Yes, I believe it has, which is why all I wanted to ask you was if Gabriel had anything to say to me, he usually does."

She blinked, then narrowed her eyes and sneered, "He said: _'This makes us even.'_ Can I go now?"

"Yep, that's all I wanted to know, you can get going now," Bastian patted the top of her head, and Raven huffed as guilt took over.

"Hold on Bastian … thanks … for everything."

The elf's smile brightened, "And you're very much welcome."

"You …" Malchior's familiar growl grew ever more distinctive as he approached her from behind with the equally familiar pink sorceress. Although he was back in his human-form he still looked disheveled and worn-out, but otherwise in good enough health to glare at the elf, "… are unfathomable, have I told you that yet?"

Bastian blinked and thought for a second before nodded, "I believe so … yes, yes you have."

The dragon snorted and turned to Raven, "I will never understand how you could have put up with the likes of him."

"Easy now dragon, be mindful of what you scorn" the elf warned, "Time is a thief; he'll take away moments if you do not savor them."

Jinx giggled and as if on cue Ryan appeared with his trademark cocky smirk, "Someone rang?" He winked at Raven, and Raven rolled her eyes, "How'd you like my little performance earlier huh? Boy-wonder fell for it hook, line, and sinker."

Raven answered bluntly, "Unbelievable."

"I know, I'm amazing, nothing knew."

"No, it was unbelievable; Robin saw right through you and me for that matter, so thanks for making me a liability."

Ryan cocked a doubtful brow, but otherwise snorted and flicked his wrist dismissively, "He likes you too much to let you go … as a matter of fact," without hesitation or shame he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her flush to his body. She didn't protest, but she did try to hide a blush of embarrassment when she heard Jinx giggle and Malchior scoff as Ryan pressed his forehead against hers and said, "I find it hard for _anyone_ to even think of letting you go. You pull another stunt like this again and I'm just gonna have to give you another privet training-session, only this time I'm not letting you up."

Tru rolled her eyes looked off in the distance with her arms crossed over her chest clutching her book close.

Malchior blinked and glanced down at Jinx to ask in a whisper, "What's he talking about?"

Jinx shrugged, equally as confused as he was about the keyword: _'another'_.

Raven, with her hands on his shoulder pushed herself away from him, but not out of his arms she felt rather comfortable in them, like they were meant to be there. She sneered, "Good to know an encounter with the Devil hasn't hindered your personality one bit."

"I could say the same for you."

"And it would be null and void … this would be the _second _time I've been to Hell."

Ryan chuckled, "And why am I not surprised?"

Malchior sighed heavily, "Okay, if it's not so bold of me to say, but get a room."

Bastian snickered and put a hand on the dragon's shoulder, "Alright, alright, I think it's time for us to head out we have a lot of work to do and so little time to do it in. As they say: the Devil's work is never done."

Malchior rolled his eyes, but otherwise didn't argue.

He followed after Bastian, prepared to take off on the back of Bastian's falcon, not exactly willing to be a full dragon again, he was taken aback when he felt Raven grasp his elbow to stop him after wiggling herself free from Ryan's embrace. She looked up at him with grateful violet eyes that said it all, but to hear it was a gift to Malchior's ears, "Thank you."

The dragon smiled genuinely and put a hand on the side of her face; he leaned down and kissed her forehead, lingering for what seemed like forever letting his aura mingle with hers and showing her just how much he cared. Before he pulled away and grinned a fanged grin, "Hopefully, I'll see you again on better terms. Like, when you finally get tired of that thief."

Raven couldn't stop her eyes from tilted to the skies as she shook her head and huffed in exasperation, "See you around Malchior."

Malchior chuckled as he turned to Bastian and the elf helped him on to the back of the falcon, they took off and Raven along with Jinx, Ryan, and his sister watched them take off. Content and suddenly tired, Tru felt a yawn rip through her mouth as she started to rub her eye, Jinx noticed and asked, "You tired?"

Tru shot her a dry look, "Gee, was I that obvious?"

Jinx sneered, "You're more of a smartass than you let on you know that."

The little girl scoffed as Raven chewed on her lower lip, "I have to get going, Jinx you coming?"

"Ye – hold on …" Jinx made a face, "Ooo, I can't …"

Raven cocked a brow, "Why not?"

"My stuff is still at Ryan's place and so is yours," the pink sorceress added the last part quickly while rubbing the back of her head anxiously. Raven blinked slowly then looked at Ryan when she saw him pull something yellow and familiar from his pocket.

It turned out to be her communicator, something she quickly snatched from his grasp as she glared at him, "You! What the hell do you think you're doing with this?!"

Ryan stuffed his hands into his pocket and shrugged nonchalantly, "It was the only other way for me to find you."

It didn't take long for Raven to figure out that he found out about her bio-signature, but what she couldn't figure out was _how_ he found out about the collar, until she looked at Jinx and saw her suddenly wondering eyes. Raven scowled and pocketed her communicator, "You …"

Jinx jumped, "No! Not me! He figured it out on his own!"

Raven sneered and stepped up to the reversing sorceress, "Yeah … right … and I'm sure he figured out that Robin and Cyborg are the only ones that hold the codes to my bio-signature. That's your problem Jinx you just don't know when to keep your mouth – _mmph!"_

Exasperated X spun the Titan around and planted a deep kiss on her lips just to silence her; Jinx smirked and inwardly thanked the sneaky thief for the distraction. Tru, sneered and shook her head and began to walk away, "I don't need to see this, Jinx, take me back home. I'm sure my brother and his newest girlfriend can find their own way."

Jinx took a hold of Tru's hand and lead her away, but paused in mid-step when she thought she saw something – or someone – sneaking around the bushes in the nearby woods. As a matter of fact, she even thought she heard the familiar sound of some kind of camera going off, but she didn't see any flash. To confirm she wasn't hearing things, she looked down at Tru and the little girl just shrugged. So with that the sorceress sighed heavily and left the couple in their own little world.

**+ One month later … +**

"_Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I'm Helga Welch keeping you updated on tonight's most anticipated event of the month, the famous Fire & Ice Ball, a charity event that ensures the legal mining and distributing of clean non-Blood Diamonds. The biggest names from around the world has come to attend the event with high hopes of putting an end to the worlds suffering, hopefully we'll get the latest scoop on what those biggest names are really up to. So sit back and enjoy the show, I'm Helga Welch, bringing the ball straight into your living room!"_

Raven gritted her teeth and shot a dark glare to Starfire who currently had full control of the remote control and was going to die to keep it. With her emerald eyes glued to the TV, Raven was pretty sure the microwaves on the set had all but completely fried her poor-friends brain. And the worst part of it all was that Starfire was forcing her to watching it with her … for the third time this week (the show was a rerun), pouting, her arms crossed over her chest, Raven scowled, "Starfire, do you think we could please watch something else? I'm about to throw up."

"Shh, Raven, the best part is soon to arrive."

The _'best part'_ as the alien had said was the part when James made a small appearance, an appearance that Starfire just couldn't let go. Raven bit down on her lower lip when she noticed James not to far from Helga's mic, he was currently talking to some other reporter and he was looking good. Drool-worthy good, but Raven wasn't about to admit that out loud, especially with Starfire in the same room, sitting next to her, frowning, and turning up the volume, Raven cringed, _Damn the person who invented TiVo._

"_James Jax! Hello there! How have you been?"_ Helga greeted a little _too_ loudly. As a matter of fact no matter how many times Raven was forced to watching it she couldn't help to find herself hiding a small giggle at how cute he looked trying to pretend the older woman's squeaky voice didn't bother him.

"_I've been good Helga, the evenings been smooth so far."_

He was good at playing it cool with his hands in the pockets of his white slacks with matching white vest and button up sky blue dress shirt. The light colors were good on his complexion and made his beautiful amber eyes shine like gold. Helga, not knowing any better praised his stylist, _"My god, do you look amazing, good enough to eat I dare say, who are you wearing?"_

Raven scoffed and rolled her eyes, _Like he'd know … _she knew better, James wasn't on top of fashion name-brands and the like, he just pulled names out of a hat and rolled with it. Not only that, he didn't have a stylist, he didn't have much as a matter of fact, all he had was whatever his older – unknown – brother gave him to keep up the charade until his fame faded into obscurity. Which, Raven was finding out much to her dislike was not as easy as they both thought.

Then Starfire jumped, "Oh! Here it is! I wish for you to pay close attention Raven, for he still confuses me."

Raven shot her friend of dry look, but humored her and listened as Helga stopped being nice and started hitting James with the really juicy questions, _"By the way, pictures have been circulating about you being seen with another woman, are you still single or is there a lucky lady in your life right now?"_

His amber eyes lit up as he smiled and laughed cryptically, _"Well … if there is a lucky lady I wish she'd show herself soon, because I'm still here waiting."_

Helga giggled then rushed in for the kill, _"Could that lucky lady be Raven of the Teen Titans?"_

His eyes bugged out and he jerked his head back in earnest shock, _"What? Are you kidding me? Raven? THE Raven? I'm crazy Helga, but not that crazy."_

"_Of course, but would you ever consider it?"_

"_No."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because …" _James shrugged, _"She's a hero, and in my own personal opinion she has a job to do, she can't be running around having affairs with civilians, it could not only cost her, her life, but mines as well – hypothetically speaking if we were a pair of course."_

"_Of course … but could the other woman be Rae Roth then?"_

James chuckled and shook his head, _"I think I have to go, excuse me."_

Helga let him leave, and once he did she turned to the camera and shrugged, _"Well there you have it folks, I guess we'll never know."_

Starfire then clicked pause and turned to face Raven on the couch with a look of concern, "Friend Raven, I know I am not to discuss your privet matters aloud within the Tower, but I am curious to know why you should be interested in a person who denies his feelings for you on the television to the nation."

Raven sucked in a deep breath and prepared to explain – for the umpteenth time – to the alien-princess, "Star, it's just too dangerous, Ryan isn't a Titan, he's what the world knows him as our enemy. If that should ever leak out think of the havoc it would cause. Our team would be put under vicious scrutiny, even disband if it's determined that we are unfit to protect this city. I don't know how else to explain it to you."

The princes frowned and tilted her head, "But … I worry for you friend … an Earthen month has passed and as far as I can tell you two have yet to partake in any of the customary Earthen traditions of courtship. Are you certain you are not in distress?"

Raven couldn't help the heat that rose in her cheeks that created a light blush, it was just embarrassing to be discussing this aloud with her friend when she still found it hard for herself to believe she was even engaging in a romantic relationship. In all honesty, it was becoming harder and harder for Raven to speak of it, so she reframed from talking about it at all … especially to the boys of their team (in particular, Robin). Lord only knew the Hell that boy would rise when he found out she was actually very much in love with the thorn on his side.

_Damn Jinx for having such a big mouth,_ the pink sorceress in question, though she got her communicator and was welcomed into the Titan fold, she still had to blab to Starfire about Raven's _'interest'._ Raven gritted her teeth and shrugged, "I'll be fine Star … I don't need you to watch my back, I know what I'm doing."

Or so she tried to convince herself.

Starfire smiled supportively, but before she could say anymore there was a _hiss_ and Beast Boy came bouncing in, "Dudes! Check it out! We got visitors!"

In tow Cyborg came in discussing something with none-other than James – er – Ryan himself, Bastian and Malchior appeared soon after, Bastian having his own little conversation with Robin. Starfire's face it up and Raven remained passively unimpressed, but as Ryan's amber eyes found hers he saw the small hint of excitement on her face. Then, a flash of emerald-eyes appeared before him, blocking his view of the dark-sorceress and flashing him with a white-blinding smile, "Welcome friends of Raven! If I had known visitors would be arriving I'd have prepared the Tameranian traditional dessert of Welcome!"

Cyborg chuckled nervously as he walked by her, trying not to picture what monster she would have created in a pot of god-only-_knows_ what, "Yeah, sure you would have Star."

Bastian, smiled politely, "I'm sure it would have been delicious milady."

Malchior snorted, "Speak for yourself."

"No one's talking to you dragon."

"No one has to."

"No one wants to know."

"No one has to listen."

For a minute it was back and forth like this, Bastian refusing to let his smile drop, or his chirpy mood dull, and Malchior refusing to give in. It made everyone else in the room stare at them with dry looks, Ryan, having made his way across the room to Raven sat on the back of the couch near her to whisper, "You know what, I've noticed these two don't really get along … at all."

Raven scoffed, "Not entirely surprised, by nature dragons and elves never really saw eye to eye."

"Mm-hmm …"

"So how's Tru?"

"Good, she's staying with Felix while I take care of some things …" he then blinked and looked when he noticed Robin heading in their direction, the all too familiar serious look on his face.

His masked eyes darted from his friend to the alleged thief and he frowned suspiciously, he opened his mouth to begin a discussion while Bastian and Malchior distracted the rest of their group with conversation. However Ryan beat him to the punch and from the pouch hanging off his shoulder he pulled out the Red X mask. Raven held her breath, and Robin narrowed his eyes as Ryan handed him the mask with a smirk, "I noticed you've been waiting to call me on my bluff kid, so I decided to make it official. You can have the mask, but I'm keeping the suit, need it to keep up my _charade."_

Robin snatched the mask but scowled, "This doesn't change a damn thing _X,_ you're still a criminal, someone has to take responsibility for all the crimes _you_ committed."

X shrugged, "True … but how can you blame someone that doesn't exist? As soon as I linked up with the DA Ryan Diamond and his little sister were wiped off the face of the Earth. I know it's too much to ask, but trust me … I'm on the straight and narrow."

"…" Robin looked to Raven, still sitting on the couch the sorceress shrugged, she honestly had nothing to say and her leader though unwilling to show it or admit it walked off in defeat. Leaving Raven to bow her head in shame and guilt, but X refused to let her sulk, he hooked her chin with his finger and tilted her head up to look at him.

She frowned and moved her head from his hand as she stood up and in a low voice argued, "Why did you have to come _here_ to tell him that? You're such an ass."

She began to march out of the Ops Room towards the hall where Ryan followed her and said his piece, "Look, I figured I'd have to get it out of the way sooner of later, so I did it sooner rather than later."

Raven stopped when they were in the hall and spun on him to stare at him with a hard gaze, "Hold on … so you were being serious? You're a DA?"

Ryan rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in mock defeat, "Hello, that's why I came here with Bastian and Malchior … I'm apart of their unit."

"So … this isn't a bluff? You're really not a thief anymore?"

"Not exactly …" He grinned mischievously and since no one was around to see his hands suddenly on her waist slowly pulling her to him, she let him, only because she wanted to know more, "… sure I play the good-guy here and there, but the thing I like about this job is it allows me to play the bad-guy when I feel like it … so I still get to do what I do best on occasion."

Her heart sank and she rolled her eyes, "Go figure …"

He smiled at her pouting face then whispered in her ear, "Guess what I've been up to."

"No." Raven growled, but he went a head and told her.

"I got to go to Azarath … and I met Arella."

She froze her eyes went wide as she stared up at him with her mouth agape, "You … what …?"

"Yeah … and I don't think she likes me very much." He added with an incredulous shrug.

Raven's face fell and she rolled her eyes again, "I can only guess what you did to get my mother to dislike you."

"Probably because I told her I love you, or maybe it was my attitude, could've been my clothes even, I don't know."

"Yeah right and – …" she all but stopped breathing when she thought she heard what she thought she heard, "… What did you just say?"

He smirked, "Could've been my clothes?"

"No, before that."

"My _charming _attitude?"

She gritted her teeth, grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him down so he was eye to eye with her as she growled, "_Before _that."

He grinned as he kissed her slowly and reminded her just why she _hated _it when he did that. It's been too long since she felt this, and her body went damn near limp in his arms as he sent a delicious chill up her spine and drowned her in a heat wave that went throughout the rest of her body. He didn't have to deepen it, this was enough to get her full attention focused on only him and that's what Raven hated he could do. Black out the world around her and sent her spiraling to cloud nine in all but a matter of seconds, and that's all it lasted, seconds before he pulled away.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and scowled, "I _hate _you."

He couldn't stop himself from laughing even if he tried, "Love ya too Rae, love ya too."

**THE END**

**--**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, Red X, or Malchior, DC does, but I own everyone else.**

**A/N: YESSSSSS!!**

**WOOO!! Finally!! It's done!! (victory dance on the ceiling) oh-yeah! For a second there I was scared I wasn't going to finish it, that would have sucked MAJORLY considering I only had one more chapter to go! I think it was the idea that I'll be attending college soon that scared the shit out of me (still does BTW). I just hope I didn't disappoint you guys, I really am sorry I took forever an'adaez, but I did it!!**

**And I hope to come back to you very soon**

**Until then**

**I bid you all:**

**L8er daez ;)**


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